


Who You Callin' Hyuuga? - Arc 5 - Genin Days

by Ikasury



Series: WYCH - Series [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Big Man with Sparkles, Bigger Better More Badass, Build Your Own Family, Cloud Village, For Want of a Nail, Gen, Goddamn Cats!, Goddamn Wave, Grandma is a Sailor, Hinata is Yorihi, Kumogakure, Lots of OCs - Freeform, Missions, Mizukage is a Sailor, Orochimaru would look normal here..., R&D, Raikage is your Daddy!, Raised by Assassins, UST, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking, Village of Ocs, Word Creep, Your Partner is a Jerk, Your Sensei is a Jerk, the kids are not alright
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-10
Updated: 2016-02-10
Packaged: 2018-05-19 13:11:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 105,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5968491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikasury/pseuds/Ikasury
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Having passed the rigors of the Academy, Yorihi is paired up with a boy named Kumori Uenkai and its time to start her genin career! Only thing is they don't get along at all... what in the world was Kemui thinking!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cloudy Weather over Coastal Waters

**Author's Note:**

> Weclome back! 
> 
> this is Arc 5 and probably the 'harshest' one so far...
> 
> Dis: Kishimoto owns Naruto... meeeeeeh~
> 
> ENJOY!

Kumogakure no sato, the Village hidden in the Clouds had an interesting structure, primarily that it was a large amalgamation of ancient stone work alcoves dug out of the high mountains with wooden structures build out of them as time went on to accommodate for an expanding population. Originally the place, some thousand years ago according to legend and Village history, was a single stone temple build out of one of the mountains. This temple was dedicated to knowledge, the pursuit of enlightenment, meditation, control of oneself and the world around them and is probably the core reason Kumo-nin always have some ‘profound’ sanctity with words, even if they each individually seem to have a _certain_ way of showing this reverence. Not that any of _them_ find it weird for a ‘normal’ everyday conversation to include rap, speaking in iambic pentameter, silent gestures, or lots of open ended sentences with inferred meaning, mind you. It was a generally held belief in Kumo that what was ‘said’ was never as important as what was ‘implied’, as only an idiot would take things at face value…

Back to the structure of the high-rise city hidden in several layers of clouds.

Now, due to having to ‘expand’ from the single stone temple, which what remains of _that_ is the base architecture of R &D, most of Kumo looks rather cobbled together or literally ‘tacked on’ to the mountain sides with various multilayered platforms hanging in the air held up by suspension bridges. Most visitors find the architecture ‘tacky’ or looking like ‘beehives’, fearful by the looks that at any moment said structures could just ‘fall off’ said mountains and the Village in the Clouds would be no more. Oh these silly, silly land-dwellers…

What many of these visitors may miss is that just like a ‘conversation’ with a Kumo-nin, their buildings had various _hidden_ multilayered structuring… in fact it wouldn’t be too far of a leap to state that just about **_everything_** these brutish-thug-like Shinobi did was multilayered and up to various interpretations!

… but back to the point.

Despite the look of the buildings to be nearly ‘falling off’, each structure was actually deeply rooted, all the way to the core, into the mountain it was build off of. Starting from the base internal stone structures and building ‘out’ with wood or whatever was available at the time. The Kumo structures were actually extremely sturdy and less likely to collapse then something built on solid ground. Kumo did **_NOT_** mess around when they built a foundation, as unlike other land-dwelling structures, they had to build **_EVERYTHING_** , not just ‘from the ground up’… of course this may have also been due to one of their primary contractors being a clan of plant wielders that if you got into a conversation with them about ‘basics’ in architecture they’d give an in-depth analogy about root systems requiring several years of horticulture to understand…

But to simplify, the structures had more than just the basic struts on the outside for stability, built miles of tunnels and internal supports to keep everything stable. Then of course there were the ‘internal’ systems that made these structures just a bit more ‘advanced’ then several other Villages and their architecture.

Not that Kumo liked to gloat or anything, but the claim to fame about ‘who invented internal ventilation’ supposedly went to an architect in Kumo… that was then stolen by most other villages as a great means to make breezier homes. For Kumo this internal ventilation was **_required_** , as any room closed off without some means of getting ‘air’ in with even a single occupant could wind up being fatal due to the thin atmosphere in the high mountains, not that any of the _other_ Villages had to worry about such things…

Now, why the in-depth discussion on architecture?

Simple…

“ACHH!!”

Because this internal ventilation system, made mostly of stone no less, is the primary means that Yorihi managed to not only get ‘out’ of Kumo-general-Hospital, but make her way over to her grandmother’s apartment and ‘snuck in’ without having to use the front door…

“Ugh,” the ‘blind’ girl groaned as she rubbed her head, having fallen out of the grate in the ceiling several feet. She had spent several hours after meeting her new ‘teammate’, his word, trying to find where her clothes had gone and convince the nurses she was well enough to be let out. The small girl was half-convinced if she were at least _half_ the size of her Father they would have done whatever she asked as she had _attempted_ the same manner of intimidation the large Raikage employed and only garnered a few snickers. It may have also been due to the fact two of the three nurses that were looking her over happened to have red-eyes, meaning related to Xiao and Seichi-san, and likely knowing her ‘intimidation’ was all a bluff… or just assuming it was as she had been _severely_ tempted to toss that one guy out a window and make a break for it. She had enough experience ‘breaking’ buildings to know just where to hit, with what amount of chakra, and the general position the Hospital was in the Village to run for her life to the appointed meeting place…

Luckily Bachiko had lazily swished his tail and suggested she go about this stealthily… since he doubted his Master wanted anyone to see her in that terrible hospital gown.

The reminder of the hospital gown and all its evils, plus the strange disappearance of her normal attire (except for her arm bands thankfully), weapons, and general ‘stuff’, had been reason enough to make a _slight_ detour to a certain reddish-brown haired girl’s closet and ransack it for something ‘decent’ to wear… she’d give it back, she promised, she just needed something _other_ than this damn hospital gown for the moment!!

Yorihi had no idea when her Grandmother got off work, if the woman ever _did_ actually, and since it was nearing midnight figured anyone else in the apartment was asleep and she didn’t want to be rude and wake them up while raiding Mei’s closet. Luckily she didn’t need ‘light’ to see where she was going, shuffling her way up the outer wall, to a duct, and through her senses figured out her position compared to where she wanted to ‘go’ and made her way with relative ease…

… Until she’d fallen through that one grate.

The girl growled as she rubbed her elbow, having landed on it, and feeling around to figure out where exactly she was. It was Mei’s room if she was remembering the furniture and ‘stuff’ all around right, but that _slightly_ annoyed her as the blind girl had hoped to make it to the closet without having to bother around the girl’s room itself, “Tch,” she clicked her tongue and got to her feet, fiddling with the hospital gown to make it sit in the most appropriate spot and feeling as Bachiko hopped down, landing deftly on her shoulders and grinning like the evil little bastard he was.

Yorihi had all of a second to ‘glare’ at him mentally as she continued facing forward before a light turned on behind her with a loud _click!_ And made both blind girl and feline jump.

Gakushin Mei was many things; hoarder, tool chest, fashionista as her partner liked to call her, but she liked to think she wasn’t an idiot… also perhaps a bit of a night person as she had been wide awake listening as something moved through the walls, trying to be ‘quiet’ and not quite achieving it before miraculously falling through the grate in her ceiling. Now, she wasn’t going to claim that grate was booby-trapped or anything (though now she’d have to reset that one seal…), but seriously whoever was trying to sneak into her room should have learned stealth a bit better…

Then she’d flicked her light on, as again she had been _wide awake_ already, and spotted a relatively short girl in a terrible hospital gown.

Whatever the fourteen year old genin had thought, _that_ was not it… as she quickly proceeded to laughing quite loudly.

Yorihi jumped again from the sudden sound before turning on Mei and jumping at the girl, getting out in a harsh whisper, “ _Not so loud Mei-chan!!_ ”

The older girl deftly dodged the shorter girl, by falling on her side and bringing a tan hand to her mouth, still quite obviously laughing her ass off.

The ‘blind’ girl pushed herself up from the blanket growling as her tattooed brows lowered threateningly at the older genin, “Mei-chan!!”

Immediately tan fingers reached out and poked the girl in the forehead, between her cyan tattoos and above her hitae-ate, pushing her enough to fall to the side as Mei straightened herself up and her laughing brought down to a light snicker, “The hell are you doing here Yorihi-chan?”

A frown passed the girl’s pale mostly covered face as she reflexively rubbed her head; seriously it was always something poking her in the head or messing up her hair!! “I was _trying_ to get some clothes to borrow!!” there was still a bit of a growl in the younger girl’s poor attempt at a whisper.

“Hehe,” that wide cocky grin Yorihi was starting to associate specifically with ‘Gakushin’ women spread on the reddish-brunette’s face, “Well why didn’t you just say so?” the teen hopped out of her covers, not bothering to straighten them, and landing on the floor revealing she slept only in a pair of pink-and-purple poka-dot panties and a decently short red shirt.

Yorihi reflexively blushed, not used to being around people that were so obviously ‘under-dressed’.

“Mmm-ah!!” Mei crossed her arms over her head and stretched, shaking some of the sleep out of her body before lazily walking towards her closet, not even caring about her attire as the girl was blind, it’s not like she could see!!

Sadly the younger girl could see her ‘hanging all out’ and since she couldn’t _quite_ ‘not’ see figured to just ignore it or get used to it. The ghost cat sitting next to her seemed to just be lazily waving his forked tails back and forth like the half-naked teen was nothing to worry about. Yorihi decided to glare at him…

“So hey!!” Mei called out from her overstuff closet, tossing a few things aside as she bent over and Yorihi really wished she could ‘unsee’ her cousin/aunt/whatever relation Mei was to her in panties, “What happened to your clothes and why’re you in that hospital gown?” she straightened enough to point at the uncomfortable younger girl still seated on her bed, raising a reddish-brow as the pale girl seemed to fidget.

“You remember the genin exam a few days ago?” to be honest Yorihi had no idea how long ago the thing was, Oku had said she’d been out a few days, maybe three…

The older teen in the skimpy red shirt just seemed to stop her ‘searching’, holding something black in one hand as she crossed her arms and tilted her head, “No, not really…” at the sound of someone falling off her bed she just chuckled, turning to the girl, “To be honest I just got back from a mission a few hours ago so it’s not like I had time to catch up on anything from the past month before Kaa-chan scowled at me back at her desk, taking my team report and saying if I didn’t get a shower and in bed in an hour she’d ground me…” there was a dramatic sigh as the older genin turned back to her closet and threw what she’d had in her hand, apparently deeming it not what she was looking for…

“O-oh… really?” a blue-black brow rose as she remembered that Mei was already an active-duty konoichi. Idly her eyes scanned the room again, now with the light on she could easily see the discarded pile of muddy reddish-black clothing to one side and her pale hitae-ate hanging off her mirror, scuffed and with a bit of red on it… a frown tugged at the girl’s face, wondering if Mei had been hurt or her partner, “D-did… w-was everything okay?”

“Hmm?” black eyes just seemed to blink back at the girl as Mei stood up again, some stuff thrown over her shoulder, “You mean my mission?” there was a quick nod from the smaller girl as black eyes went from the blind girl on her bed to her pile of mission clothes and her forehead protector. She really hadn’t had the chance to clean anything up, literally going straight home, stripping them off, tossing it all in a pile and running for the shower before Jun could snag it, putting on her sleepwear and hoping in bed… only for her weird little ‘cousin’ to show up, falling from her ceiling and all, needing clothes. A light smirk came to the girl’s tan face as she grabbed a few more things and walked over to the younger girl, “Went about as expected for an escort mission,” as she walked across the room, clothes in hand, she couldn’t help but smirk into her mirror and at her hitae-ate hanging off it, “There were a few bandit raids, a handful of low-level nuke-nin, and my partner managed to break her leg so I had to carry her back…” a nonchalant shrug as she tossed the clothing at the small girl on her bed, “Like I said, pretty normal…”

“R-Really?” a cyan tattooed brow couldn’t help but raise as the younger girl was _slightly_ surprised by how nonchalant the older teen was about her mission, from the sound of it involving killing a number of people while defending not only her target but injured partner as well. Absentmindedly Yorihi pulled up what appeared to be a black stretchy top, breathable and form-fitting and figured it’d have to do for now, before asking without thinking, “did you kill any of them?”

A reddish-brown brow rose as the older genin put her hands on her hips, more out of it being a comfortable stance then any kind of point, “Course I did,” another shrug as she moved to sit next to Yorihi, leaning on the back wall lazily as she absently reached out to pet the strange blue-black cat, not even caring when he seemed to scrunch up relatively annoyed, “I remember Ruri-sensei going on and on about ‘disabling’ opponents as us genin aren’t ‘required’ to kill anyone, but eh…” absently she waved a hand closing her eyes, “When you’ve already done it, it’s like taking off a bandaid, you stop caring that you’re ‘killing’ someone, and more just getting them ‘out of the way’ and ensuring your target is safe…” her black eyes seemed to stare blankly after she opened them, falling a bit further down the wall, “I mean… I’m not trying to justify it, Yorihi-chan, just that… well…” a _slight_ frown came to her face, “I’m not like Kaa-chan… the opportunity is there, I take it, otherwise I’ll disable them or sensei handles them…”

“Mm,” absently the blind girl nodded, still fiddling with the stretchy shirt, thinking over her own experiences with killing. They’d been so dramatic and imprinted deeply in her a desire to ‘not’ do it because of the price… yet Mei-chan seemed detached from it, not seeing her kills as really anything and she wasn’t sure if that was better or worse than gloating about it. – _And what did she mean about Baba?_ \- she knew her Grandmother didn’t have a single qualm about killing, if the woman was as ‘creative’ about torture as she had shown Yorihi, there was no way that woman had any problem about taking life…

In the heavy silence that seemed to spread between the girls Mei glanced over at her odd little ‘cousin’, finally noticing her new eye covering as she may or may not have picked up the ghostly feline and put him on her chest. The cat growled for all of a second before nuzzling into a ball on her chest, causing the older teen to snort, “Cheeky bastard,” a tan hand roughly noogied the cat’s head but there was no way he was moving. Black eyes turned to the girl still wearing that damn hospital gown and fiddling with the clothes in her lap, “So I just noticed,” a grin spread on her face, “you got your own hitae-ate~”

A _slightly_ embarrassed flush may or may not have passed the girl’s pale cheeks as she nodded adamantly, setting the clothes to the side and hoping off the bed.

A reddish-brown brow rose as she watched the girl systematically start from the bottom with her replacement clothes so as not having to take off the hospital gown immediately, “So the test you mentioned earlier…?”

Yorihi slipped on the new stretchy black shorts, finding a decent enough front and back split skirt with a few pouches for weapons she could use for now, nodding to the older genin’s question, “Mm… I-I passed…” it felt strange saying it out loud, before a grin spread wide on her pale features that she couldn’t help but look up at the older girl earnestly, even if Mei couldn’t see her eyes.

An equally earnest grin spread on the older genin’s face, “Good job Yorihi-chan,” she raised one hand to give a thumbs-up while the other continued petting the cat on her chest, “Though honestly I couldn’t see them failing you… hehe.”

A certain cat may or may not have snorted as his Master had a bit of a frown, picking up the stretchy shirt, “I could have failed, if I’d fallen…” she nudged her chin towards her cat lounging on the older girl’s chest, “If it weren’t for him I probably would have…”

Black eyes glanced to the blue-black tabby on her chest as she pet him a bit roughly, “Cheeky bastard,” another snort from the feline as those thin black eyes just looked back at her ‘cousin’, “I bet you could’a done it by yourself…”

The smaller girl just shrugged, not sure what to do with the odd praise. Mei was the first person in her ‘family’ she had a chance to actually show off her hitae-ate herself. They knew obviously, they must have, that she’d passed… but even still, it felt almost weird to Yorihi to first show her hitae-ate to the girl that was her Grandmother’s daughter and only really associated with when she needed to borrow clothes… or when her and Yugito dragged her off to shop for ‘stuff’.

It was at this moment she realized she didn’t really know the girl, or the other Gakushins really, as much as she knew the desk clerk she called ‘Baba’.

“Ya know,” a lazy voice piped in as black eyes opened to stare at the shorter genin, “if I didn’t know you were blind I’d almost say you were staring at me?” a reddish-brown brow piqued as she eyed the odd little girl, knowing she wouldn’t see, but finding it funny as she just seemed to stiffen and blush in embarrassment.

“I-I was just thinking…” her hands fiddled with the fabric in her hand as she thought of something to say, “What…” her voice started but she thought better of it, watching as the older girl’s brow rose higher as Mei continued to absently pet Bachiko, “…Did… d-did you have to do anything after your test? W-with your new partner I mean?”

That reddish-brown brow rose higher as Mei decided to sit up, propping her chin on one hand as Bachiko rolled into her lap upside down, “You mean like an ‘initiation’ thing?” the blind girl absently nodded, “Well I dunno how they do it in the other Companies but yea, we had this kinda weird little test from our sensei, though it was more for him to get a feel for what we could do and how we worked together…” that was when a thought slipped into Mei’s mind, her narrow black eyes opening a bit wider as she looked at her ‘cousin’, “So, you went through the crash course, who’d they assign as your partner?”

A flat look came over the blind girl’s face, “a boy named ‘Kumori Uenkai’ showed up at my hospital room earlier claiming to be my new ‘ _teammate_ ’…” she may or may not have huffed, she didn’t like how the older boy acted, arrogant and dismissive of her.

“Uenkai… Uenkai… hmm…” a tan finger rubbed along the older girl’s chin, “That name sounds familiar…” she crossed her arms moving about in various thinking poses, “Maybe in the class before me?”

A cyan-tattooed brow rose, “Mei-chan?”

“hrm…” a thin black eye popped open, staring at the younger girl up and down, seeing she had yet to take that hospital gown off the top. The eye closed and a frown seemed to spread on the older genin before she rolled slightly to the side, upsetting a certain blue-black tabby who had been quite comfortable, as she reached into the pile of discarded clothes and tossed something black at the girl, “You’re going to need that…”

Yorihi squeaked, dropping the shirt she’d been reluctant to put on and catching the garment Mei-chan had thrown at her. Instinctively her hands went all over the thing feeling it out to ‘figure out’ what it was even if she could plainly see it, a red blush spread on her face.

“Hehe,” that cocky Gakushin grin spread on the older girl’s face as she propped her chin on both hands, “If you’re going to be doing any kind of ‘initiation’ stuff you’re gonna _need_ the support…” a squeal may or may not have come from the older genin causing a certain cat to jump, “ _Especially_ if your partner is a boy~”

The red spread even further, unlike last time she’d borrowed clothes from Mei over seven months ago she now _knew_ what a bra was when it was thrown at her. Yugito had taken it upon herself to teach the young growing girl some _things_ , horrible, horrible, terrifying **_things_** that apparently she was supposed to learn from her ‘mother’… Reki somehow got involved and Kemui-sama had been _conveniently_ absent due to teaching a class. Somehow that afternoon had been just as, if not more, terrifying then the torture-cell illusion, at least with that she’d ‘chosen’ to do it and there was an obvious tactical purpose… the ins and outs of her developing female body did **_not_**!!

Mei, unfortunately, didn’t know any of this, as she flatly stared at the girl’s reddening face, “You are the only person I’ve ever met that gets so embarrassed by bras,” there may have been a sigh as the girl in the snug red-shirt crossed her arms, inadvertently ‘showing off’ her own developing chest before continuing in a chiding voice, “Seriously though, you’re gonna want the support,” her hand came out sagely as if making a point, “I mean I know _some_ girls with hand-helds don’t need them,” there was a short cough that sounded almost like ‘like my partner’ before another cough as the girl continued, sagely, “or my mother who just lets it all ‘hang out’,” there may or may not have been a growl, “but developing young girl’s like us need the extra support, _especially_ you!!” a tan hand suddenly pointed at Yorihi…

… who made a rather pathetic ‘Eep!’ sound and jumped.

A reddish-brown brow may have raised a bit before that serious look returned to the older genin’s eyes like she was imparting sacred wisdom on her junior, “considering at your age you already surpass me…” there was _not_ a sniffle, “and you’ll likely surpass my mother by the time you’re Jun’s age,” those reddish-brown brows furrowed, deathly serious, “So you might as well get used to wearing those now!!”

Yorihi looked deathly terrified of the older girl, hidden white eyes wide as she could only give a firm nod before turning around and finally taking the damnable hospital gown off to put on the horrifying garment.

Mei just seemed to snort, “Seriously, didn’t your mom teach you anything?” at the way the younger girl’s shoulders scrunched up Mei got the feeling she’d just said something she shouldn’t have. – _Crap!_ \- “Er… I mean,” embarrassedly she scratched one tan cheek, looking away, “Well I mean Oba-chan should’a taught you something,” her arms crossed as her eyes closed with a pout on her face, “Even if I doubt she even _bothers_ wearing anything underneath that kimono-top… freakin’ lucky with those damn hand-helds…”

Yorihi could only raise a speculative tattooed brow as she pulled down the ‘tight’ black stretchy shirt, glad it had barely any sleeves so she didn’t have to adjust her armbands, before turning back to Mei absentmindedly tugging at the annoying undergarment under the shirt, “this is really annoying…”

The reddish-brunette seemed to pop out of her ponderings on her ‘aunt’s’ under-things, turning a flat black eye to her younger cousin looking her over in the lamp light, “It’ll have to do…” a tan hand rubbed her chin as something seemed to cross her mind, “By the way, what happened to all your gear?” last she’d seen the girl before her mission Yorihi had been walking around with a small arsenal; wired kunai, four adult-sized swords, those beat rods, arm and leg guards, and who knew what else. The kid as an Academy student was better equipped than some chuunin she knew.

There was an obvious grumble from the girl as she fiddled with her shirt again, “I honestly don’t know, I’d been in the hospital since the test and none of the staff would answer me about my clothes,” the frown spread as she ‘glanced’ around the older girl’s room, “I half think they hid them just so I wouldn’t ‘escape’…”

A laugh broke out from the bed that Mei futilely tried to hide behind her hand, “You’re probably right, I know they took my partner’s stuff while she was doped up… probably still is now that I think about it,” a reddish-brown brow rose, “but they gave all the salvageable stuff to me to hold onto,” a tan hand pointed to a small collection of gear on a chair featuring two tomahawks and several kunai holsters, “but I knew they threw out her pants; covered in too much blood and they had to cut them off anyway,” she waved her hand around flippantly as if it wasn’t that much of a deal.

“So, wait…?” Yorihi turned to the older girl with cocked tattooed-brows, wishing she _at least_ had a belt to rest her hand on, “They just gave you her stuff… because you’re her partner?”

Black eyes blinked up at the younger girl, “Huh? Yea I guess, why?”

All was quiet for moment…

... then Yorihi started shaking, her hands in fists tight enough to turn the knuckles white and a seeming blue aura of angry chakra eeked out of her before she threw her head back in a scream, “ _THAT SON OF A BITCH!!_ ”

Rightfully Mei jumped, holding the angry girl’s cat a bit closer as at first her sudden burst of chakra was scary… then a snicker escaped the older girl as it became _insanely_ funny as the younger Gakushin’s mind easily put the pieces together. It seemed Yorihi’s new ‘teammate’ was not only familiar with hospital procedures but already using and abusing them…

Without realizing it, Mei was starting to like the guy already.

\-----

Downstairs in the den area of the Gakushin household…

At the sudden large and _familiar_ burst of angry chakra, the two occupants that _had_ been fast asleep on the couch jumped awake…

Or really one of them as the other simply jumped but never quite got to the ‘waking up’ part.

Blue-green eyes had shot open as Mabui recognized that sudden burst of dense wild chakra. – _What the hell? Senpai?!_ \- quickly looking around the dark den of the two-story apartment the grey haired girl didn’t see anything out of place; the TV was on showing a blank static-filled screen, the files she’d brought over were still strewn about on the coffee table and looking to her right Jun seemed to still be asleep with his head lulled back and left arm along the back of the sofa.

The last thing she remembered Jun was helping her fill out all the overnight paperwork for the new registrations for the Academy, Shinobi forces and a few mission files ready to be archived because she was tired of sitting at her little desk by herself back at the Raikage’s tower. The brunette asleep next to her wasn’t a part of the Admin. forces but perhaps as a genetic gift from his _evil_ mother was decent at dealing with paperwork… but even he got bored, or as he put it said she needed a break and put a movie in to get their minds off of ‘work’ for a few minutes. She remembered reluctantly _allowing_ him to watch the distracting thing while she continued her work… then got ‘ _distracted_ ’ by said movie and apparently ended up falling asleep… on the same couch as him…

The dark skinned young assistant may have turned a few shades darker with a red tint before she quickly got up, stacked her paperwork into a neat little pile, sealed in a carrying scroll which was quickly tossed into her kimono and headed for the door. Thank whatever Kami above her Senpai just went berserk nearby else she would have probably slept the whole night at that evil desk clerk’s place and she **_did not_** want to be there when Reki came home.

It never occurred to Mabui, as she was quite obviously _fleeing_ , to ask what Yorihi was doing at the Gakushin residence at this ungodly hour anyway, since last anyone knew the young newly-minted Genin was unconscious at the Hospital. But details later, fleeing now!!

\-----

In no more than a second later there was a loud crash as Mei suddenly had a new access point to the outside in her room. Raising a reddish brow the older genin walked over to the large hole, deftly avoiding the debris and noticed that not only was her wall demolished but so was the glass framing the outer wall. She easily felt as the lazy cat that had been lounging on her chest hopped up onto her shoulder as he too looked at the destruction wrought by his Master, all Mei could do was whistle loudly.

“ _OH MY GOD!!”_ an oddly familiar voice called a bit down the hall as Mei leaned out of the hole in her wall, spotting a familiar grey haired assistant who had stopped in her tracks of _fleeing,_ too stunned by the abrupt damage to continue immediately. Without thinking, the off-duty chuunin’s hands went up, “ _WHAT THE HELL SENPAI!?!”_

That reddish brow rose higher, “Mabui-san?”

The older young woman seemed to squeak, jumping a good foot in the air before turning around and seeing Jun’s little sister just standing amidst the rubble, in her underwear no less with a rather familiar blue-black tabby on her shoulder. The utterly frightened deer-in-headlights look on the cute woman’s face was priceless, as she looked about to say something, turned distinctly red… and bolted down the hall throwing over her shoulder, “ _I WASN’T HERE!!”_

Idly bored black eyes narrowed, brow rising higher on both her and the blue-black tabby as the genin stood back, hands on her hips and just shaking her head, “Honestly, I’m back less than ten hours and all this happens…” she brought her hands up into three seals just about anyone in Kumo was familiar with before stepping outside her room and placing her hand on the side of the glass which slowly started to repair itself. A nudge on her shoulder proved to be Yorihi’s cat giving her something of a playful nuzzle which she returned, “Yes, yes, you’re cute~” she rolled her shoulder towards the closing glass, “You better go after her…” the cat merely snorted in response causing black eyes to roll, “Go on, she’s going to need someone to help calm her down,” again she nudged her shoulder towards the glass, only this time Bachiko leapt off, attaching to the reforming glass as he looked back with an odd look in his vibrant blue eyes. Mei just raised her free hand as the glass continued fixing itself, “Go on, shoo~” and the bakeneko finally left.

“Uhh… Mei-chan?” a masculine voice called across the hall as the younger genin could feel that her brother had apparently woken up and was now standing in the hole from her room scratching his head confused.

“Yorihi-chan came over to borrow some clothes,” absently she waved her free hand down the hall, conveniently in the way Mabui had been fleeing, “by the way you’re girlfriend left running again…”

Narrow black eyes stared at the back of his sister’s head as the elder Gakushin put his hands on his hips, “We’re just friends, besides…” at the similar narrow black eyes flatly glaring at him disbelieving his claim, Jun pointed at the girl, “What’re you doing out in the hall in your underwear?”

Mei just stared at her older brother flatly for a good minute before sighing and turning back to her task, “Cleaning up after our family,” there may have been a growl in her voice as a reddish-brown brow twitched in a way very reminiscent of a certain desk clerk being told she couldn’t smoke, “Like I always do…”

Jun just scratched his head, before yawning and turning around… it was too early to be awake.

\-----

It was around 0300 and Uenkai was sitting in a meditative position in the middle of a training ground not _quite_ number 18. He couldn’t sleep and as a habit of his prior to his coma he had spent most of his nights unable to sleep restlessly training until he wore out enough to pass out or his former partner would find him and drag him to bed, usually by force. Due to his long overdue sleep he was barely capable of the former and without _her_ the later would never happen again, so here he was, meditating in the middle of an empty field, alone.

Behind him were the things belonging to his new ‘teammate’ that the hospital had signed away to him. Thanks to his previous time there and being active duty prior to his coma, he was quite familiar with hospital procedure on injured patients. True they weren’t ‘officially’ partners in the conventional sense just yet, but on paper he and that little arrogant girl were as officially ‘partners’ as Kumo-General cared about, thus he had the ‘responsibility’ to look after her belongings while incapacitated. He intended to give them back, that was without a doubt, and when he had visited her yesterday he had not expected for her to be awake. Like several of the other more ‘decorated’ of this year’s graduating class it had been expected the girl would need relatively a week to heal up…

Then he had met her face to face.

… and something in him was just insanely annoyed. – _I don’t understand why Kemui-sama entrusted me with this task_ \- Kumori Uenkai had never considered himself a particularly ‘spectacular’ genin, his track record obviously spoke otherwise with what happened to his teammate despite whatever progress came beforehand. Yet… yet that assassin woman, the one that was considered the Raikage’s hidden blade, his unsuspecting tool meant to stab in anyone’s back that thought to oppose the big Oni… she had looked him in the eye, not dismissing his injuries or experiences, listened to what he had to say and for whatever reason deemed him worthy to ‘look after’ the Raikage’s own daughter. He had expected the woman to kill him for failing, instead she gave him a much more risky mission, _trusting_ him to not only look after the girl but teach her from his experience in the field. Least that’s what he had interpreted from that meeting about a month ago.

The first time he had ‘seen’ Tenkyuu Yorihi she was unconscious in a hospital bed after her overly large familiar had brought her to the hospital after the test, vacantly mumbling something about bats. Part of him wondered if she was messing with his surname, which while _similar_ to the sound of ‘bats’ had nothing to do with the nocturnal flying rats. The hospital staff had stripped her down, put her in a gown and handed him her belongings, as again he was registered on paper as her partner, then left. He was a fourteen year old boy with battle experience and they left him to look after some green unconscious eleven year old… mumbling about bats…

He remembered looking her over in the hospital bed, this pale little girl scuffed up, possibly concussed, in that ridiculous hospital gown, the only articles of her own clothing the nurses deemed unnecessary to remove being the dark blue blindfold and the stone armbands… and he hoped her undergarments because he was **_not_** going to be responsible for such things. It was bad enough back with Sasayaki when she’d go skinny dipping and leave him to look after her ‘ _things_ ’, honestly the developing woman made a point of teasing his unstable male hormones…

Uenkai vigorously shook his head… he didn’t want to think about her… it was wrong to think of those ridiculous times, especially with her being gone and now him being reassigned… it just…. It wasn’t right.

Focus returned and in the right place, the young man turned his mental attentions back to his new ‘teammate’s’ belongings strewn about behind him. Part of his mind knew that the best way to gather information on the girl was to inspect what she carried with her, this was information gathering one-oh-one… another part of him called him a coward for not simply waiting to ask the girl. Obviously his Shinobi training won out… sort of…

It was his obligation as her new ‘teammate’ to inspect and repair any of her gear… yea, that was it… He’d made a point of cleaning her clothes, more out of habit then any actual consideration for her… it had just been a rule between him and his former partner; whoever wasn’t injured washed the other’s clothes before handing them back. There was nothing worse than getting out of the hospital in gritty, bloody clothes from who knows how long ago. Also out of habit, and nothing else, he had examined her armor and weapons. For being such a small, young _girl_ , the kid carried around on her an apparent arsenal: wired kunai of varying degrees, a few throwing knife _holsters_ , with knives hidden into her clothing as if to not appear to be there, a fully stocked first aid kit with apparently homemade antiseptic pastes (which had surprised him as nothing in her profile suggested she had any interest or proficiency in medicine) a pair of extendable beat rods he recognized as the old ones Kuri-sensei used to use upside his, and various other ‘insubordinate’ students’ heads, arm and leg guards seeming designed to cover over her wrists and top of her shoes if the measurements were right by his understanding… and strangest of all was her adjustable belt holster with four, yes **_four_** , adult-sized swords. He would openly admit he had spent the most time looking those over out of all her gear, sure he had sharpened and polished her other weapons and armor, noting to suggest a chain undershirt as those were often invaluable in combat against small arms and shrapnel, but those swords were a continuous interest to him.

From what he had gathered listening to her fellow students, via gossip as he was _not_ going to actually _ask_ them, the girl had never once drawn the swords her entire time at the Academy, simply carrying them around and using the beat-rods as a proxy for a double sword style in combat. This of course made him insanely curious, inspecting the weapons more, though not drawing them either, out of respect for the weapons, not their wielder.  The four blades were guardless, smooth single pieces, sheath and grip, and if one didn’t look closely would not notice they ever were anything beyond just sticks. It was their shape that suggested the blades hidden within, as well as how they were arranged on the leather belt holster, meant to be carried on the sides with the current configuration, two on each side, individually separate allowing for multiple stances and combinations with any of the odd blades. Then there was the type of blades, from what he heard everyone just assumed they were four katana, obviously no one had gotten close enough to notice the nuanced differences between each blade.

The one on the top left, if he were to wear the holster, was the longest, with a slight bit more curvature to the end, making him think it was probably an Uchigatana; a blade designed specifically to be drawn and slice in one quick motion. Opposite this blade on the top right was the shortest and straightest, had it a guard he would think it was a Ninjato; a short sword favored by many Shinobi for stabbing, quick strikes, and maneuverability in tight spaces. Also it was in some respects an insult to Samurai, being a straight blade as opposed to their beloved Katana, and with a guard able to deflect such a larger sword easy. This one was obviously meant to be a ‘modified’ version, as it retained some curvature but he couldn’t resist the idea it was still meant to pierce as oppose to slice like the sword opposite it. Below the Ninjato was the only one he’d call a full Katana, though there was something about its weight and balance that seemed to suggest it was ‘off’ as well. He knew the weight of a Katana, he’d pulled enough of them out of his body during fights to be _intimately_ familiar with the relatively common blade, this one was heavy, not just the heaviest of the four swords but **_heavy_**. He partly wondered if the sword itself was meant more to ‘crush’ then actually cut as its weight suggested, but without drawing the blade, again out of respect for the blade, he would not know why the oddity. And finally that brought him to the last blade, similar in size to the Katana opposite it yet a fair bit shorter, making him think it was just a typical Wakizashi, sure a bit large one as it was closer to the size of a Katana then the ones he’d normally seen, probably making it _technically_ an O-Wakizashi, but a Wakizashi nonetheless. From the scabbard he couldn’t see anything strange about the blade, just its size, too short for a Katana, longer than a typical Wakizashi, but its positioning across from the heavy Katana and obvious lighter weight made him wonder if out of the four swords those two were the ones truly meant for duel wielding. It was an interesting thought, the first top two seemed designed to be used individually, while the bottom two could be as well, they could also just as easily be used together, like a Wakizashi and Katana were supposed to be.

Whoever made these blades made them custom and obviously with the intent to be a set for the strange little girl to use when she was older. The straps on the belt holster were adjustable all around, obviously meant to be changed as her body did and her style with the swords altered. From how the thing was designed he could see various configurations, she could probably ever wear it over her chest and draw the swords off her back like many Black Op.s ANBU did for the convenience and mobility. Whoever made this, the swords and the holster, put a lot of effort into its construction, as if hoping to provide the girl with as many comfortable options as possible. This person obviously cared deeply for her and if they never said it or acted like it, they certainly made the point with their craftsmanship. If the blades were even _half_ as impressive as the rest they were certainly fine swords, part of him wondered if she would tell him who made them, perhaps have this blacksmith look over his own cleaver-sword.

But quality of weapons meant nothing if the wielder was nothing, his mind petulantly reminded him.

He set the collection of blades down, staring at them with passive teal eyes, noting about his features showing his respect for such finely made weapons. He would not draw them, not wield them, but they were fascinating to behold. He was used to common place metal sharpened to an edge wasted in battle, not something obviously so unique and he hoped cherished. Most Shinobi, in his experience, wore out weapons and simply got new ones, only Kiri had been known to have specific blades that lasted generations and were revered more than those that wielded them. The dark tan boy couldn’t help the chiding groan at himself. – _That’s probably why I can’t help but respect these blades…_ \- it was probably also why he was so _irritated_ with the girl, not giving a damn her weapons were gone…

That’s when he felt an unmistakably _large_ and **_angry_** force of nature heading directly towards him, a light blue light in the distance towards the village getting unmistakably closer and closer.

Without changing the look on his face he stood up, holding the swords in one hand and the knapsack with her other gear over his shoulder on the other side.

The unmistakable shimmering light blue thing seemed to jump, shadow the moon a moment, giving an enhanced look to the vibrant chakra brimming off the intruder, as she came down with rocket like force, foot out and causing a crater where Uenkai had been.

Landing on the outer cusp of the new crater, he’d seen bigger, Uenkai effortlessly strapped the blades to his back along with the knapsack, freeing up his hands as he took an unconscious battle ready stance.

There was an unmistakable growl as the dust cleared from the center of the crater, as the _short_ shimmering blue person pulled her foot out of the ground and ‘glared’ at him with a hitae-ate, “ ** _Give them back!!_** ”

The effortless growl and intensity of the small girl’s words sent an unconscious shiver through the older teen but he stood firm, showing none of his surprise as he merely stood tall as any other Kumo-nin, “0345, you’re early,” his shoulder shrugged around him, “and this isn’t even training ground 18, either you’re bad at taking orders and following simple instructions or you found a target more interesting?” he let the small devious smirk pick that the edge of his lips, hoping to goad the girl. He’d admit openly he’d never, **_never_ ** thought he’d see the day where a newly minted genin effortlessly exuded that much chakra, sure the girl always had a tendency to be eeking out some amount of the life energy, but this was intense. Obviously she was furious and her chakra was acting up in accordance with her emotions, he wanted to see just how far he could push her… that was it, he told himself.

That growl as the girl’s shoulders rose, like a beast raising its fur, but she didn’t rise to his bait, holding her hand out at her tattooed brows obviously lowered, “ _Give them back!!”_ she barked again, but didn’t make any move towards him.

The odd ‘inaction’ caused the boy to lower his own scarred teal brows questionably. Here was someone out of control to the point their chakra was visible, she had made her ‘entrance’ by slamming the ground hard enough to create a crater, and all she did was ask to have her stuff back? Teal eyebrows furrowed as the older genin narrowed his eyes, “You didn’t answer my question: are you incompetent or impatient?”

Again the ruffling of the girl as she was obviously tensing, irritated with her chakra flaring, but she didn’t move from her position, “I will _answer_ whatever the hell you have to say, **_after_** you give me back my swords!!”

A teal brow piqued, part of him glad she cared about the finely crafted weapons while another was curious why they were the only things she seemed to care about getting back at the moment. He raised a tan hand to rub along his chin, “And why should I? You aren’t in a position to bargain,” he stated flatly, watching the girl as she lowered her hand to clinch at her side as he lowered his own to his hips, displaying a look that saw her as no threat despite the obvious, “What makes you think you have the right to order anything from me?”

That familiar growl as her chakra seemed to condense, “Try the fact I could have just killed you and taken them!”

He couldn’t help it, Uenkai flinched, not just at the intensity of her words but by how low and controlled they were. Genin, especially right out of the Academy genin, even from Kumo, didn’t resort to killing immediately… and when they did it was not something done lightly. The girl’s ‘battle aura’ seemed to lower but only to become more dense, more controlled as her anger seemed to be focusing her instead of sending her out of control like most people he had fought. He suddenly felt the familiar sensation he had when he met the assassin, only this was backed by that dense focused chakra… the girl did not lie, she would have killed him if she felt the need to get her things back.

Wordlessly and with a stony face, Uenkai unstrapped the sword bundle from his back, taking one last look at the beautiful blades before tossing them to the enraged girl. Effortlessly they flew through the air, she reaching out without having to move, taking the weapons, unraveling them with familiar ease and strapping them around her waist. The fluidity of the motion, the lack of needing to adjust, and the way her chakra lowered _visibly_ showed there was no doubt, those blades were hers and hers alone. There was a visible sigh of relief as the girl lowered her shoulders, obviously glad to have something of hers back…

“Why did you want them back so badly?” the teal haired boy crossed his arms, keeping the stony look on his passive face, but even he was unable to ignore what just happened. The relief the girl felt was palatable in the air, her chakra lessened considerably, there had to be more than sentiment behind her desire to have her weapons back.

The blind girl ruffled, comfortably setting her arms on her blades like normal, “Not that it’s any of your business, but these swords help keep my reserves in check,” her head tilted down, feeling the smooth lacquered wood of the blade sheaths, “They are made of the same stone from the mountains I trained in… they help keep my chakra occupied…” her fingers fidgeted on the handle of the long top one, “… so I don’t burst like just now…” an embarrassed blush crossed the girl’s cheeks hoping the boy couldn’t see it in the darkness.

A teal brow rose, “I hadn’t felt anything from them while in my possession…” they were just normal blades to him, beautiful and well-crafted sure, but nothing to denote any chakra property… unless they had to be unsheathed…

A scowl passed the girl’s mostly covered face; whatever embarrassment at her outburst gone, “You wouldn’t, they feed only on **_my_** chakra…” there may have been a pout as she added under her breath, “… they wouldn’t do anything for you…”

Teal eyes narrowed on the _little_ girl, feeling perhaps the barest of irritation, not that he showed it, “Are you going to answer my earlier question, are you incompetent or impatient?”

The girl’s shoulders rippled again with some underlying threat, turning his way, scowl fully in place, “Neither, as obviously I found you despite being nowhere near what time or place you told me, so you’re the one that’s either impatient or incompetent, giving your new partner the wrong place and time!!”

Uenkai would never admit this, but he felt a childish roll of anger bristle up in him as his hands went to his sides and may or may not have balled into fists, “Firstly I told you the appropriate time and place, and secondly I was out her performing my **_own_** training, not intending to be interrupted by some child-oni!!”

Yorihi obviously bristled, gripping her top two blades in her frustration, maybe a bit of her chakra showing back up, “ ** _I_** only wanted to get what was **_mine_** back!! Like I give a damn about how I’ve inconvenienced you!!” okay, she was mad, to the point of completely ignoring that ground in decorum half of her family had been systematically dismantling since she came to this freakin’ village while the other half quietly approved of. Let it be said that when Tenkyuu Yorihi was **_mad_** she took after her _Father_ , the Raikage, in full force!! A dangerous pale hand pointed at the older boy indignantly, “And what the hell gives you the right or thought that you can take my belongings without my knowledge or consent!!”

Let it also be said that Kumori Uenkai did not back down just because some little girl got it in her head to act like an Oni, daughter of the Raikage or not, she was still younger than him, less experienced then him, and _a_ **_little GIRL!!_** He was trying to contain his bubbling, insulted _irritation_ at the green genin, but only really managed to keep his voice relatively above normal and hands in tight fists, it was a ‘start’, “I am your senior, the one in charge of your from now on if I deem you _worth_ of my time, and as your teammate it is my obligation to care for your belongings while incapacitated as a sign of _respect_!!” not that he respected _her_ , mind, but the tradition… yes, that was it.

Yorihi growled, visibly shaking and wanting nothing more than to punch him in his smug face, “You are **_not_** my ‘teammate’, we’ve never even met before yesterday, so how the hell am I supposed to trust you with my belongings if you don’t even consult me first!!!”

Oh the childish argument of ‘blame’, this could honestly go on all night/early morning, and Bachiko, sitting some distance away on a rock wished he had some appropriately themed food…

Immediately a pale hand pointed to the blue-black tabby, who jumped with a hiss, “And **_shut up!!_** ”

Bachiko, now pointed out and ‘discovered’, had his forked tails puffed out in blue-black flames along with all the hair on his back as he scrunched up in a typical cat-fashion and hissed at his angry Master. She simply growled back at him, showing just as much ‘puffing up’ with her chakra.

Uenkai suddenly felt extremely ignored, causing one of his teal scarred brows to twitched, but his earlier fury to dissipate, if now he was more annoyed than anything else. His narrow teal eyes traveled from the blind girl, glaring with her brows, stance, and Hitae-ate in place of her eyes, and the blue-black fork-tailed cat doing much the same. Similar to how he remembered the Masters did back at the Academy, Uenkai crossed his arms, garnering a neutral expression before finally speaking, annoyance clear in his voice, “Since we’re all here,” the two ruffled ‘cats’ seemed to turn on him, puffed and angry as they had been, “Might as well get this over with…” he may have rolled his eyes, maybe.

Blue-black brows, both the kitty kind and human version, had all of a moment to rise at the boy’s flat tone before he was gone in a flash… and the ground opened up at Yorihi’s feet as she dodged a massive ground strike from the boy’s cleaver like sword.

She landed on her feet with ease, hands reaching into her back pouch… only to grip air and remember that _wasn’t_ attached to her belt like normal. – _Damnit!_ \- the young girl grit her teeth, bringing her hands in front of her in a modified stance for hand to hand combat she’d been working on with Ruri-sensei. The boy’s cleaver-sword came in fast again, enough she had to lean to dodge – _He’s fast…_ \- the sheer size of the sword would suggest it was slow like an axe but apparently Kumori could wield it as swiftly as any rapier. Hidden white eyes rolled as she used chakra laced palms to deflect the large blade, placing her hand on the wide flat side and guiding it away. – _And I had been worried about **him** fighting…_ -

The boy attacked like a ferocious whirlwind of blades and strikes with the large cleaver-sword, Yorihi managing to dodge mostly by instinct and guiding the blade away in tight spots. It wasn’t that she _couldn’t_ dodge his strikes but that she was trying to work her way inside his defenses, whatever she could say about the boy, as arrogant and a jerk as he was, he was indeed an excellent swordsman… or axeman… whatever, either really worked as the cleaver-sword was large enough to really fall into either category, and he wielded it efficiently as both.

After several frantic minutes of the two attacking, deflecting, and dodging where appropriate, Yorihi managed to stick her hand on the side of the blade and send it high in a upward jerk, using the momentum to draw back her other hand for a solid punch aimed right at Uenkai’s head. 

It was probably only because the girl practically roared that the teal haired boy realized the danger he was in, quickly flipping his grip and with a mixture of gravity and swinging force, brought the flat of his cleaver-sword down like a shield to block her devastating fist. He could _feel_ through the blade and long handle, the shake and force, and just how powerful that hit could have been as it forced his blade to literally kiss his forehead and push him several feet back… he honestly expected a quick follow up move, so was rather surprised when again he flipped his grip, going for a diagonal chop only to hit complete air.

Yorihi was standing in a neutral stance, seeming to only be standing with her arms at her sides but with how tense her body was it was easy to tell she had every inch guarded. The frown on her pale round face showed how uninterested she was in this, “What are we doing here Kumori?”

Was it an insult that she was referring to him as his surname? Or was she just being professional? He lowered his blade, taking a more axe-wielding stance, crouching low as his eyes never left her small frame, “I’m evaluating your skill…”

“Tch,” he was almost half-convinced she would have spit were she anyone else, “You could just ask, besides,” the pale girl nodded her chin in his direction, in some way feeling like an insult, “if you _really_ want to see what I’m capable of give me back the rest of my gear…”

A smirk picked at the edge of Uenkai’s lip that he hid by crouching further into his stance, “I have to have something be your goal, reacquiring your stuff will just have to be it…” she growled again in response, her shoulders ruffling irritatedly, causing that urge to smirk to grow in the older boy.

“How is this an evaluation of my skill then? Not even allowed to use the weapons I’ve trained with?” her cyan tattooed brows lowered, like she was reading him more seriously, waiting for any sudden moves.

Uenkai just rolled a shoulder, “You’ll just have to figure it out,” that smirk was becoming obvious, “If a Shinobi thinks they’re only as good as their gear then they are no worth to us,” the boy’s dark chin nudged at the girl, “I gave those back to you as sincerity, use them if you wish…”

A frown spread on the girl’s pale face as her stance seemed to drop momentarily, hands absentmindedly running over the handles of her top two blades… then she shook her head fiercely, “No,” her voice was low, holding that threatening growl as she gripped her blades for all of a moment, then letting them go, “Bachiko…”

A scarred tattooed brow rose, what had she just said?

Suddenly the blue-black tabby was on the young girl’s shoulders, grinning a wide Cheshire grin as his Master seemed to be putting forth all her effort to concentrate on something… it almost looked like she was muttering something under her breath?

Teal eyes narrowed as the boy gripped his blade, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end, that ground in sixth sense that something serious was about to happen. – _Guess I should stop it…_ \- without even a thought the boy disappeared, reappearing in a whirlwind of his massive blade… the girl dodged, of course, only this time she seemed to actually jump _away_? His scarred brow twitched – _why is she dodging now?_ \- before she had fought tooth and nail to get near him, now this? That disturbing feeling on the back of his neck was still there so again the boy charged…

The cat on her shoulder just seemed to roar, causing a ‘force’ to knock the boy out of his charge. – _Was that a ninjutsu? Genjutsu? Or just the beast’s force of chakra?_ \- many in Kumo were familiar with some level of ‘demon chakra’ seeing as they had two Jinchuuriki that weren’t adverse _at all_ to showing off their sealed demon’s abilities. The little cat on the small girl’s shoulder could only be considered as something demonic, with how intelligent it acted and the feel of its presence… so that had to be it, just a dense focus of chakra thrown his way in the form of a roar, a reflexive scare tactic, not a real technique. A pout came to the teal haired boy’s face – _two can play at that game…_ \- immediately he put away his massive cleaver-sword by attaching it to its latch on his belt and brought his hands together running through several seals, “ _Kirigakure no jutsu!_ ” taking in a massive breath infused with chakra before breathing out a wave of mist.

The demon cat seemed to growl, swishing his tails about his Master’s shoulder, Yorihi could only snort taking the small moment to comment on the chakra ‘mist’s’ futility, “Explain to me why you would use a concealing technique on someone that _can’t **see**_?!” sure, the claim was utterly false and while switching her eyes to their chakra-sight she got interference due to the chakra density in the mist, but still, with sound, smell, feeling, even taste she could navigate the older genin’s position. The only reason she could see him doing such a technique was out of habit, to annoy her cat, or as a setup to something else…

… She _really_ hoped it was that last one.

There was a loud clap as Uenkai smacked his hands together, kneeling some distance from where he had been and running his hands through a complex set of seals before holding an odd seal and growling out as he released his chakra into the mist, “ _Eteru Youshiki!!_ ”

- _Wait-what?_ \- cyan brows quirked along with odd whiskered ones as both Yorihi and her cat tried to determine what the boy’s added technique did. They both could feel the chakra in the mist increase, but what the hell did it actually _do?_ Looking around with all her senses as Yorihi split her attention from what she _had_ been doing and keeping aware of the swirling mist… nothing seemed to be happening!! “What the h-…he… hell?” there was a sudden tingly-ness in the small girl’s fingers and toes and it had absolutely nothing to do with her gathering chakra.

Vibrant blue eyes just blinked as his Master started to wobble, he twitched his nose and nudged her consciousness heavily… it felt… sleepy? The blue-black cat growled, nudging the girl’s head trying to wake her up…

“Ugh…” Yorihi groaned, her body felt so heavy… - _the… the… hell… is… is…_ -

There was a massive growl next to the girl’s ear, it sounded so far away…

Next thing she knew the ground was exploding in front of her and she was being dragged out of the mist… the first breath of fresh air felt so electrifying she gasped loudly as her senses began to unfuzz and she realized Bachiko had taken on his larger form, grabbing her with his forked tails, while growling at the visible mist as it started to dissipate, showing Uenkai pulling his massive cleaver-sword out of the ground where, assumedly, Yorihi had previously been standing.

The young Oni’s ascent to consciousness was most eloquently put as, “ _THE HELL WAS THAT?!_ ” as she struggled to be freed from her constant-companion. Bachiko, of course, rolled his massive vibrant blues, shrinking down and retaking his position on her shoulder…

Uenkai twirled his massive blade before setting it on his shoulder with a bit of smirk, blowing most of the mist away from the area, knowing the girl wouldn’t go anywhere near it now that she knew the effects, “A family technique, with my chakra I turn ordinary water into an ether that’ll easily knockout most living creatures,” he nodded his head in respect to the ghostly feline, “seems he proves it doesn’t work well on demons,” that smirk grew as he again latched his sword and ran his fingers through another series of seals, “not that I can’t handle his kind, _Kasumi no Jutsu, Arukouru Youshiki!!_ ” the teal haired boy breathed out a concentrated stream of mist towards the two, denser, thicker and more controlled then the area-of-effect style _Kirigakure_ technique.

Yorihi instinctively jumped back but was still blasted by most of the technique, she had held her breath expecting something like the ether earlier so when she rolled out of the stream of mist she took in another breath… only this time distinctly smelling and tasting what it was…

The girl shot up gaggling, “ _THIS IS ALCOHOL!!_ ” Tougemichi may have been a hermit that stayed away from society but he was not a man to not imbibe now and then… in fact Yorihi was convinced the old man drank some of the purest booze known to man. After eating out with Reki and her family a few times she’d come to recognize the smell of sake and beers, and none of them were quite like the overpowering pungent scent from the old blind Assassin’s stash. This… this mist that was now permeated on her clothing… this was a hell of a lot closer…

Now, while the alcohol didn’t seem to _really_ bother the small girl, she did notice her feline companion wobble and fall right off her shoulder, “ _Bachiko!!_ ” worriedly she immediately grabbed the languid feline. Picking him up she noticed he was listless, eyes wide and unfocused, and if she wasn’t feeling/hearing him wrong _purring_ for no damn reason… she shook him as one of her tattooed brows twitched, “you’re **_drunk!!_** ”

There was a dark chuckle from the middle of the field and the blind girl couldn’t help growling at him, “Didn’t you know?” that devious smirk of his grew immensely, “most demons are _extremely_ susceptible to alcohol, they get drunk off of simply the smell of the stuff,” teal eyes became sharp, full of pride as he let the next words drop, “My family has known this for generations and its why our alcohol manipulation has been a number one defense against demons in many countries!!”

There was a volatile growl that filled the area, and it had nothing to do with the drunk feline…

Uenkai stopped his gloating; bringing his teal eyes down to notice the girl had set her companion to the side, enough out of the way as he assumed to be ‘safe’ as she seemed to retake her neutral stance… only this time she looked **_pissed_**!! Not quite the same as when she came down from the sky burning mad about her stuff missing, but focused mad, best show by how her chakra wasn’t visible except around her hands… why was her chakra visible around her hands?

The young girl’s pale lips were moving again and Uenkai dared take a few steps closer, cleaver-sword drawn and ready, just to catch a glimpse of what she was saying…

“ _… small… unassuming… and can cut… small… unassuming… and can cut…”_

The boy’s teal scarred brows quirked, what the hell was she saying?

The chakra in her hands seemed to suddenly fluctuate, doubling at least in both size and intensity as the girl brought her head up, growling again a fair bit loud, “Small, unassuming, and can cut!!” there was a burst in both of her hands before she shot off towards the boy, attacking viciously in a flurry of kicks, flips, and various other maneuvers.

Caught off guard by the increase in speed and ferocity by the younger girl Uenkai could only counter, parry, and narrowly dodge with his blade, hearing as it clanged against something he couldn’t seeing in the bright flurry of motion. A kick-flip, a feint, and a strike so hard it sent the large cleaver-sword out of his hand as the girl set her leg behind his knocking him to the ground, pinning him and holding something bright blue over his eye…

“I should kill you…” the girl’s voice growled as she held in her hand what looked like a blade made out of nothing but chakra.

Teal eyes were wide, pupils small, as all the boy could do was stare. He had never, **_never_** seen someone able to use shape manipulation to such an extent as to form a weapon of _pure_ chakra. He’d seen weapons made from fire, water, earth, metal, acid, and various other compositions with the _help_ of chakra… but **_never_** pure chakra on its own. – _and she didn’t even use hand-seals…_ \- he could only stare… just stare…

Yorihi’s hand seemed to visibly shake as the chakra knife sparked, losing its consistency and before the volatile energy could explode or something she let it dissipate… and punched the cocky boy in the face, _hard_ , before standing up and walking back to her cat, “That’s for Bachi-chan…”

With a groan the boy rolled to his side, rubbing his face and seeing if anything was broken before sitting up, _slightly_ dizzy, and turning narrow teal eyes on the girl, “We’re not done yet!!”

Instead of any kind of verbal response he saw her flick her opposite hand back without turning around, the one she hadn’t ‘let go’ of her chakra blade, at him and several lights shot towards him…

“Ack…!!” opening his eyes, as he had reflexively closed them, he realized he was pinned to the ground by chakra knives. He had all of a moment to register they truly existed, blink, before again they seemed to disappear, either the chakra running out or the girl released it before something volatile could happen.

“As far as I care we are,” the young Oni clippedly threw over her shoulder as she kneeled down next to her companion, the drunk cat rolling around in a shabby patch of grass, dazed, confused and annoying as hell in the back of her mind. Some part of her mind registered it was probably a good thing he was a ‘happy’ drunk apparently. She reached out, rubbing his belly, which she knew he hated, when he rolled on his back, causing the drunk cat to bat at her hands as he lushly growl-purred, not really being able to do much of anything at the moment. There may or may not have been a smirk picking at the edge of her lips, seeing his vibrant blue eyes so wide and unfocused was amusing, but she also knew it was dangerous for him, it hadn’t been the first time she’d learned about alcohols and demon cats, Tougemichi had enjoyed messing with the cat more than she would admit.

Without turning she could see and hear the boy sit up, check his clothing for holes before standing up, drawing his blade and already holding molded chakra in his chest, “We’re **_not_** done yet!!”

A cyan-tattooed brow twitched as she comforted her languid cat, “Yes we are,” that frown spread, “I’ve no interest in ‘proving’ myself to you anymore, just give me back my things and we’ll leave…”

There was a growl from the teal haired boy as his lip pulled back in a slight snarl. Taking his cleaver-sword in both hands, Uenkai took up a distinct sword wielding style, “We’re not done,” his hands gripped tighter on the long rough handle, shaking the feather attached to the bottom loop, “You’re not the only one being tested here…”

Yorihi growled in frustration but stood, facing the boy as her hands were glowing again, “What do you want?” her brows were low, mostly obscured by her similarly colored hitae-ate making on the cyan tattoos above them the only things visible, “You take my things without permission, insult me, attempted to kill my cat!” indignantly she pointed a glowing fist in the direction of a certain drunk bakeneko rolling in the _only_ small patch of grass on this rocky plateau, “And refuse to admit defeat!!” her hands returned to her sides, shaking glowing fists, “so again, _what the **hell**_ do you **_want?!_** ”

The boy’s grip tightened as he crouched into a low stance, saying in just as low a voice, “I haven’t died yet…” before charging at the girl, who again growled countering, deflecting his blade and hitting him several times in the chest with her elbows before bringing up one of her glowing fists, having converted the chakra held there into a knife pointed under his chin…

Those cyan brows were still on him as she seemed to look directly into his face with her hitae-ate, “How many times do I have to kill you?” there was no threat in her voice, no malice, just a blunt statement of their current situation.

Instead of fear, instead of anger, insult or disagreement the older boy just grinned. He grinned in such a way that his eyes were hollow and his face was sad but something underneath was content before answering, “as many times as it takes for me to get back to what I was…”

That surprised Yorihi, as she ‘let go’ of her chakra knife and lowered her hands, standing normally as she ‘stared’ at the boy. He only straightened his stance enough to stand in front of her, no malice, no anger, nothing even overtly threatening anymore; he was watching her as much as she was watching him. Her dark brows became visible again as the tension left her forehead. Maybe she was reading too much into the situation but maybe this meant she was ‘worthy’ and now he just needed to get himself up to that level as well. A slight frown came to her pale face as she moved to the side, “It’d be easier to train if I had my stuff back…” she didn’t know what she expected but it had become something of her philosophy that it didn’t hurt to ask.

“Hmp,” the boy seemed to give a clipped shrug, turning around, first picking up is cleaver-sword, slinging it over his shoulder then pulled off the knapsack with her gear off his back, idly throwing it towards her before turning around, “You have five minutes, then we continue…”

Yorihi easily caught the bag, a _slight_ smirk pulling on her face as she watched him irritatedly stand there. For some reason she felt the need to quip back, and maybe had some pushing from a certain drunk cat as she turned to the side, opening the bag, “I only need one…”

Without turning she could see the boy tense up and bite his tongue… she found it more amusing then she should have…

Quickly opening the bag, and seeing her beloved gear and clothing, she decided to ignore changing clothes for the moment and instead focused on getting her arm and leg guards back on along with her holsters and kunai pack. The rest she could do without and left the bag in the ‘careful’ paws of a certain cat that proceeded to latch on to the thing as she set it down next to him. After quickly attaching the necessary gear, jumping to consider the weight, she returned to her previous position, hands sliding behind her back as she pulled out a familiar set of beat rods and flicking them into their longer form, “You ready?”

A smirk picked at the edge of the boy’s face as he turned on her, cleaver-sword over his shoulder giving him a rather ‘I don’t care’ look, “Two minutes ago…” his smirked widened as he saw her tense and maybe flush a bit.

Yea, yea he could deal with this…

\-----

For many hours the two sparred, sparing no expense in chakra used, techniques expended, and utterly wreaking the training ground. By this point the sun had risen well beyond the mountain peaks and it was apparently one of those rare days the clouds were mostly clear up in the high altitude city, meaning it was probably down pouring below the skyline.

Yorihi was holding her two handed style with her beat-rods out, one in front, the other behind, breathing heavily as she faced her opponent. Uenkai had his cleaver-sword in a back axe-handle style, expecting to drag it forward for a long sweep or side-chop, those scarred eyebrows low as his teal eyes tried to pierce the veil of the girl’s Hitae-ate. Both combatants were panting heavily, having expended their repertoire of techniques, chakra, and whatever tricks they could figure out… becoming somewhat familiar with each other’s style in the hours after the sun rose high.

Both were standing, ruffed up, weary, and still pushing to spar out of the habit they’d developed between the short clashes…

Bachiko, the now-sober bakeneko sitting stoically in his little patch of grass next to his Master’s bag of gear snorted. If anyone asked his opinion he’d ‘tell’ them the two were only still going and standing because both were too stubborn to ‘drop’ first.

“Ugh…” “Oof…”

So _of course_ there was a chiding kitty chuckle as both suddenly dropped face-first into the stone beneath them…

“Why’s it so _hoooot_ ,” Yorihi whined, hands out in front of her down head as she laid flat on her stomach. Her finicky feline companion padded over to her with a skip in his step, mentioning something about exhausted muscles and the sun high above them with nothing between them and its deadly rays. She swatted at him with about as much effort as a rock rolling up hill as he hopped over her offending arm, giving that stupid Cheshire grin.

Uenkai’s only response was a grunt.

The two worn out genin seemed to just slump in their downed positions for the better part of ten minutes before both seemed to finally raise their heads at the same time, narrow teal eyes meeting the shiny plate bearing Kumo’s insignia as the girl’s dark blue brows with the cyan tattoos just sat flatly above it. For what seemed like _another_ ten minutes the two just ‘stared’ at one another…

“Kumori Uenkai,” the boy started with a rough worn out voice, causing one of the girl’s tattooed brows to rise, “I’m technically a second year genin but before a month ago I was in a coma due to a botched mission that took the life of my previous partner…” for a moment the boy’s teal eyes were flat, caught somewhere in the middle distance, barely registering the surprised way the girl opened her mouth but without the words to speak. Stiffly he pushed himself up, his muscles screaming in every manner of protest for the aggressive workout before something blue-black seemed to pad over to him, slip under his arms and expand in size. It was the girl’s cat, the one he’d drugged with his technique, the demon apparently taking pity on him, expanding enough to help push him up so the boy could sit up. He nodded his thanks as the beast shrunk back down to size, staring at him with those large vibrant blue eyes before flicking its tail and helping its Master do the same… if considerably _less_ accommodating. There was some growling from the girl as her cat seemed to nudge her closer to the older genin before letting her finally ‘sit’…

She growled at the cat who merely nudged at her innocently, slinking his way into her lap, “Tch…”

A side of the dark skinned boy’s face twitched and he felt the need to grin at the two before shaking his head and continuing his little ‘speech’, “This sword,” he drew it with what strength he had, setting the flat end on the ground as he leaned one arm over it, “Was my former partner’s…” in a voice barely above a whisper, “It’s the only thing I have left of her…”

Again the blind girl had that look about her face along with the tightening of her shoulders like she wanted to say something, but the frown meant she would keep silent.

Part of Uenkai was thankful for it, fighting with the girl allowed him to learn a lot about her, she came off brash, arrogant and cocky but the reality was she had every right to make whatever claims she did. The girl could back up anything she said, so did he or anyone else _really_ have the right to call her arrogant? When speaking she gave the impression of someone that snapped quickly, with a short temper and no clue just how small they were. The later he could probably blame on her father, the Raikage had a big presence and despite how small the girl was it was easy to forget when she was charging at you with enough chakra around her to seem like a cloak, but the previous two… it was either an act or honest observations, he wasn’t sure, she was a lot more calculating then a hot-head would ever be capable of, and despite her outbursts, unintentional or not, there always seemed some measure of control to them. She was a kid with power and whether or not she knew how to use it was up in the air but unlike most she was _aware_ of exactly the amount of power she had and accepted it. That was something he couldn’t say for most of the shinobi he’d ever met, most of the time everyone just bluffed they were leagues better than they were, to her either there was no reason to ‘act’ or she didn’t know how… either way he was impressed by her.

“I wanted to say that because I want to start over,” he held his hand out, looking at her straight in the face, “I want to ignore our disrespectful introduction and start over right…”

Those two-toned brows cocked as her head tilted to the side a bit, “Okay?” her arms seemed to fidget and he wasn’t sure if she’d reach out until her cat nudged under her right, pushing out, and despite the fact she growled at him she held her hand out to him awkwardly.

Uenkai knew she could have taken his hand, he was far past the point of being tricked that she didn’t have some way of knowing exactly where everything was without sight but a smirk picked at his lips as he humored her. His partially gloved hand grabbed hers around the forearm, apparently surprising her as her brows twitched like she was blinking as he gripped hard and gave their conjoined arms a shake, “Hmp…” it was a greeting among warriors, friends, words were not needed.

As the two let go, the boy smirking lightly to himself, Yorihi pulled her hand back slowly, rubbing her fingers as her dark blue brows cocked, “Kumori… -kun?” he seemed to shrug not minding, “if this is meant to be a… ‘greeting’ would you mind…” she held up her other hand, fingers twitching as she wasn’t sure about her next action, it wasn’t exactly something she’d done before, others may have found it weird, “if you could…” she bit her lower lip, feeling very uncomfortable about asking but did so anyway, “Let me ‘see’ your face?”

His scarred brow went up as he watched her seriously, “after that spar I’m convinced you have some means of seeing without your eyes…”

The girl gave a more confident nod, “My other senses are heightened to the point they can substitute for me and Xiao-chan taught me a family skill of hers that lets me do something similar with chakra, but…” her pale lips were pressed into a thin line, her hands nearly gripped in front of her, “neither are _really_ as accurate as touching something with my hands… so if you would… since you want ‘re’-introduce us… well…” there was a heat rising on her cheeks and she had no idea why but utterly hated it… Bachiko was laughing, the jerk.

Uenkai just seemed to none, leaning in closer to her he grabbed the girl’s smaller hand’s with both of his own. She made a cute little ‘eep!’ sound as if surprised and turned a few interesting shades of red for a moment as he pulled her hands towards his face. About half way there she seemed to regain her senses, turning her hands in his, making him stop, as she seemed to run the tips of her small fingers over every inch of his hands.

“You weren’t kidding about the sword not being yours originally were you?” the boy’s brow only seemed to rise as she continued feeling, “The calluses may be gone but the bone growth from repeated use suggests someone more proficient with kunai or small arms, not repetitive use of that weighty axe-like-sword,” she nudged her head towards the blade next to him, “though with what we did today I don’t doubt you’ll have blisters pretty soon…” a tip on one side of her lips seemed rise.

The older boy couldn’t help he could feel his face doing the same, as he felt her hands halt as if waiting for him to continue. He couldn’t just yet, not without his own comment, “I don’t think I’ve ever felt a girl’s hands as rough as your own,” the way her brows lowered and a red frown spread on her face suggested she was getting angry. The teal haired boy just smirked, “I’m glad, it’s just more proof you’re serious about your training,” at least the frown left, the red didn’t, as he moved her hands to his face, “Good enough?”

“Mm,” the girl nodded as he let go of her hands, closing his eyes and letting her do as she pleased. The boy seemed to just set his elbows on his knees, leaning on them with his hands in his lap, face still and serene. Yorihi watched the small twitches on his dark tan face for a short while, yes she could see his face, and yes this entire exercise was _technically_ superfluous, but she figured if she were to keep up her ‘blind’ status, especially with her partner she’d have to be more serious about it. It also gave her an excuse to test out her ability sense with touch, she was curious the extent of the damage he’d sustained, and after mentioning he was in a coma, likely due to some injury during that last mission… he fought well for being incapacitated so long, he must have trained hard in the last month, especially since that weapon wasn’t his? – _I wouldn’t have believed that with how he wields it…_ -

It seemed she had been too still for too long as Uenkai cleared his throat, snapping Yorihi out of her thoughts.

“O-oh… sorry,” immediately she ran her hands along the sides of his face. He felt warm, likely from the sun beating down on them, and running her hand along his jaw she could feel sections that had been broken, along with some scruffy hair, especially at the tip of his chin. – _Is he trying to grow a beard?_ \- her Uncle always had a goatee trimmed short while her Father’s had definitely gotten longer and he’d trimmed up his mustache. Tougemichi had had some whiskers he never seemed to do anything about, not that she really noticed other than when they’d first met and she’d left. Uzushio-jiji, from the times she got to see him again, usually as some excuse to ‘check her seals’ and make sure they were working properly… as well as get into a fight with Reki-Baba, always seemed to have his curt pink-looking mustache. Feeling around the older boy’s lower face, noting the bits of teal scruff coming in she couldn’t help but giggle trying to imagine him with any of the facial hair of the men in her life.

“What?” the boy cracked a teal eye open just to see the girl snickering as she felt around his chin.

“N-nothing, nothing,” her voice was higher pitched as she seemed to be brushing off the snickering as if it never happened. That caused the boy’s face to scrunch up and she decided she’d ‘seen’ enough of his lower face. Moving her pale hands up she felt around his cheekbones, noticing the left side had been previously broken but surprisingly his nose hadn’t, or at least the bone part of it hadn’t. One of her brows quirked as she followed the slew of damage up the right side of his face, the skin was unblemished, likely healed quickly or never broken, but underneath was a roadmap of scarring the further up she went where the bones had shattered and reformed.

His right eye opened as her thumb trailed along the side of it, “Guess you are really good…”

Her hand came up to the scar in his right eyebrow, noticing a severe spiderweb of healed cracks from the point, “What hit you?” the scar was small, seemingly three incisions that looked like a thin slanted ‘N’ as she pushed the teal hair aside to get a better look. Two were small, likely old scars from training at various times, but one longer one…

“The same person that gave me this one,” he raised his left hand to point with his thumb at another scar, in a similar position only on his left brow, “Can’t say Sasayaki was particularly ‘good’ with that blade of hers…”

It was meant to come out humorous, but Yorihi couldn’t help but suck in her breath at the melancholic tone and the mention of a name. She honestly didn’t think he’d tell her about his partner, especially not so early in their knowing one another. The only thing she could do was nod, moving her hands away, “I… I suppose it wasn’t this strike that knocked you into a coma…?”

“Dunno,” the boy’s voice was lower and much more somber then before though the blind girl was half convinced it was just because of their proximity, “Can’t say I remember much from over a year ago…”

She just nodded, dropping the subject. After a moment or two of thought, and hesitation, she shifted on her knees, pushing herself up more as she moved her hands further along his skull… through his surprisingly soft short teal hair.

There was a sputtering sound, a sudden shake from the boy, then silent stillness.

Yorihi shrugged, not sure why her cat was suddenly rolling around and laughing in the back of her mind. – _Shut up!! I’m trying to see if there’s any more damage!!_ \- That was her story and she was sticking to it!! After a moment of feeling around his skull, totally _not_ just enjoying the feel of running her hands through his short hair, of course not, she would never; she felt a long scar hidden by his hair along the back near his hairline and several fractions on his skull, “I guess this might be it as well?”

There was no response, and likely she didn’t even notice.

After another merciful minute the girl removed her hands from the boy’s head and sat back down properly, just tilting her head and seeming to process her observations. Actually she was watching as the boy’s scrunched up face seemed to finally start slipping and he unclenched his hands from his lap, now why did he do that?

Uenkai coughed into his hand, still not opening his eyes, “Are you finished?”

A quick nod was his response, “It was interesting,” why did his face just get slightly redder? “You’ve certainly had your share of broken bones, and that’s just on your head,” a light smile picked at her lips, “I can easily believe any one of them would have been hard enough to knock you out for so long…” the boy obviously blushed embarrassed but did nothing else, seemingly taking her joke in stride.

Though he may or may not have pouted with a slight grumble, “Anything else?”

“Yes actually,” Yorihi smirked to herself, time to implement phase two on covering her own ass and excuses for being blind. A pale hand raised as she pointed at his hair, “What color is that?” if the Raikage’s daughter was going to be completely honest with herself… she really had no idea what color that was…

One of the boy’s scarred brows rose as his similarly colored eyes blinked, “Why would you care? You can’t ‘see’ it right?” by the inflection he put on the word ‘see’ Yorihi could tell he didn’t mean it in the conventional sense, as in with her eyes.

- _This is going great!!_ \- her smirk slightly grew, proud of herself for thinking this up, “Actually thanks to my lessons with Moe-sensei I have a… ‘sense’ of color,” that’s what the crazy midget had called it right? She pushed the thought aside and continued, “thanks to my experience with her illusions I’ve been trying to figure out a way to ‘sense’ color without my eyes,” this was utterly true, who knew when she’d go somewhere like the caves again and being able to distinguish color inside that blackness would save her life? “So using the technique I mentioned earlier, I’ve been working with chakra to figure out the… ‘feel’ of colors?” a shrug, sounded good enough, as she pointed at his hair, “and I’m not familiar with that one?”

His eyes may have become _slightly_ suspicious, “that’s why you spent so long petting my hair?” the girl gave an embarrassed laugh, scratching her cheek. He just _slightly_ glared at her a moment before shaking his head, looking away, “Its teal, same color as my eyes by the way…”

“Teal?” an honest grin passed the girl’s face, “Thanks!!”

An embarrassed blush crossed the boy’s dark tan skin, which he quickly shoved aside as he crossed his arms, “Alright, now that that’s done with,” he may have shaken a bit while the girl laughed, “Why not re-introduce yourself?”

A tattooed brow rose, “Like just say my name?”

The boy shrugged, “if you want, though I suppose some more information would be helpful…”

Her head cocked as she seemed to be thinking something over, “like what?” there was so a smirk that seemed to mimic her cat’s, “Why don’t you give me an example!”

Teal eyes closed tight as the boy grumbled before a usually quiet side of his brain spoke up and said it’d only be fair. – _She’s willing to listen to you and curious to know who **you** are… don’t screw this up!!_ \- he snorted, “Fine,” putting his hands on his knees he cleared his throat, “Like I said, I’m Kumori Uenkai, second year genin, formally part of Company F… and um…”

“What about what you like?” the girl piped in curiously, “Dreams, ideas, hopes, hobbies… stuff like that?” it wasn’t often she got to just straight up ask about this stuff to other people, call her curious.

That reddish tint crossed the boy’s face again, “S-sure, why not…” again he cleared his throat, taking a moment to ponder what to say, “Um… I mostly train, I miss my old partner, haven’t really done much but both since I woke up…” out of the corner of his eye he noticed the girl’s shoulders slump, probably tired of him whining about someone she’d never meet. He shook his head, “… and one day I plan on killing the Raikage…”

Immediately Yorihi’s eyebrows lowered, “You realize that’s my Father right?”

Oddly a smirk rose on the older boy, “So?” he gave a much more cocky grin, “The only way to become the Raikage is to kill the previous one…”

She seemed to become _less_ threatening but more serious as she crossed her arms, “And you want to become the Raikage?” a nod from the boy, “Why?”

His grin just spread, “I want to have the power to annex Kiri so there’ll be no more war between our two nations, instead uniting as one!!” unconsciously he raised one hand in a fist, showing how serious he was.

Yorihi quite obviously blinked, now rather intrigued by Uenkai’s words, “Why would you want to annex Kiri specifically?” absently her hand raised to her chin as she went into a thinking pose, “It would be easier to try and take over the smaller countries bordering us, or even one of the other in-land great nations before Kiri, it being an island nation and all…”

“Hehe, not half bad,” Uenkai kept grinning, before holding up one finger, making a point, “But it being an island nation off our coast makes it a better target, being we could directly access it, not smaller countries to get in the way or tip them off,” to the side the Raikage’s daughter nodded in agreement, “But not only that…” he lowered his hand, gaining a more solemn tone, “My father was originally from Kiri… when the civil war broke out he went back to try and stop it… mom,” a frown tugged at his lips, “she didn’t stop him… I didn’t get it at the time, but when she got a notice of his death…”

“Kumori-kun?” Yorihi’s voice was soft, not sure what to do in this situation.

Quickly the boy waved off her sympathy, “It’s a sad story for another day,” he raised his head, teal eyes shimmering with unshed tears as he looked at her hitae-ate as if they were her eyes, “Point is… Kiri always seems to be at war and while it’s not the place of my birth, it is the land of my fathers…” he held out a fist, “When I become Raikage, I will have the power to take over the country, bring it into our way and stop all the pointless bloodshed there…”

The way he looked, the way he spoke, Yorihi could not only see, but _feel_ the conviction in his voice and sincerity of his words. He had the pride of any Kumo-nin, the grit and respect of power this place honored, yet he still valued his father, respected the man despite his death and wanted to do something that would make him proud. It was something definitely worth respecting and something she had not been expecting.

The blind girl gave a quick nod, “Tenkyuu Yorihi, just graduated genin,” she reached up and adjusted her hitae-ate catching the boy’s attention, “I like sweets, training and spending time with my family, learning new skills as well as pushing myself to master them and while I don’t quite have a dream like yours yet I do want to continuing getting stronger to protect those I care about!!” she pumped her fists gaining a serious look, “That includes my Father, so if you **_ever_** try to go after him…” her grin grew slightly sinister as her brows came down seriously, “You’ll have to get through me first!!”

An equally menacing yet serious grin came over her the older boy, “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he held his hand out as if making a deal, and smiling even more as the smaller girl took it, both of them gripping hard and shaking once. Deal struck.

A lazy cloud passed over head, shadowing the new partners, making them look up.

“Heh,” Uenkai gave a grin, letting go of the girl’s hand before standing up, grabbing his cleaver-sword and attaching it to his belt, “C’mon, I know this place on the 3rd platform that makes these great sweet rolls…”

Yorihi just cocked a brow, before hopping up, Bachiko quickly taking his lazy place on her shoulder as she watched the boy turn around and head towards the exit of the training field, “Kumori-kun?”

He seemed to nervously scratch the side of his face, taking a few awkward steps away, “You said you liked sweet things… the place has all kinds of pastries, candies, what-have-you… and its ‘bout time for lunch, right?” he waved a hand as if justifying what he was saying.

She walked up to his side, catching up easily as she leaned around him, simply ‘looking’ in his direction with a raised suspicious brow.

The only response the boy seemed able to come up with was flustering, indignantly crossing his arms and mumbling while he took off in front of her, “… I also like sweet things.”

Yorihi just put a hand over her mouth and giggled sweetly, following her new… ‘ _interesting_ ’ partner.

\-----

Kumori-Cloudy Weather, Ue- Over, Enkai-Coastal Waters

Kumori Uenkai – Cloudy Weather over Coastal Waters

Kirigakure no jutsu – lit: ‘art of hiding in the mist’ - common: hidden mist technique

Eteru – ether (chemical compound, ie: Michirueteru – methyl ether, diethyl ether)

Arukouru – alcohol (chemical compound, ie: echiruarukouru – ethyl alcohol, ethanol)

Youshiki – style

Kasumi – mist, Kasumi no jutsu – mist technique


	2. Conger Eel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that we're teammates, meet the family~

Two days later Xiao woke up…

In the meantime Yorihi had had to explain why she’d left the hospital early, deter the hunter squad that had been sent after her (headed by her Aunt and Uncle), give a lengthy detailed explanation what had happened, fix some damages from her ‘little’ outburst, suffer three hours, each, of lectures from her Uncle, Aunt, Kouhai and the head of the hospital, the Commander of Company V… she was a very scary pale woman with slick purple hair and intimidating pink eyes that gave her the impression of an Eel… definitely someone she didn’t want to meet ever again if she could help it.

Kemui-sama was still off on some ‘diplomatic’ mission, or that’s the least anyone would tell her…

… and her Father had just taken one look at her, after being dragged in by all the above after her and Uenkai had been _ambushed_ at the sweets shop, by her Uncle’s team no less, inciting much flippant laughter from her Grandmother, and the great Oni had just “Hmphed” at her before waving the others away.

She spent an entire minute standing at attention under her Father’s scrutinizing gaze before a devilish grin spread on the large man’s face and he scooped her up in a big hug, extolling how proud he was seeing her with that headband around her eyes. The blonde Oni hadn’t even heard a word about the whole ‘escaping the Hospital’ thing or the chiding or any other such nonsense. His Daughter was now officially a genin, he couldn’t be more proud!!

Yorihi may or may not have made an ‘Eep!!’ sound before her Father finally put her down, hand patting her head affectionately before turning to the boy that had been chosen to be her partner. In all honesty the Raikage knew next to nothing about the boy, he’d left the decision up to Kemui so he trusted her judgment in picking the young man for some reason… not that he knew anything about how it was his new _assistant_ that had decided and the white haired assassin just ‘approved’ but details…

The boy and the Oni stared at one another for a good long minute, serious teal eyes never wavering from the great Oni’s beady black ones. Bachiko made some comment about ‘posturing’ in the back of Yorihi’s mind that she didn’t get but had to suppress the urge to giggle; they looked far too serious for this situation.

After a moment the Raikage had shooed them away with only a **_mild_** threat to break the boy’s spine and crush his hands and feet while ripping out his esophagus if he ever let anything untoward happen to his Daughter… surprisingly this was probably the _least_ threatening threat Uenkai received from the blind girl’s family in the two days since.

He had only expressed this quite bluntly as they stood outside the glass doors to the Raikage tower after another run-in with the girl’s ‘grandmother’, “What did I do to deserve this?” as his left eye may or may not have twitched… the black haired grinning smoker of a desk clerk was rather… _creative_ in her description of just what **_exactly_** she’d do to him should any ‘funny business’ happen to her precious Granddaughter… also that no one would ever find the body, she’d make sure of that.

Yorihi had just flippantly shrugged, saying it was all pretty normal to her.

Uenkai had just looked down at her… eye twitching.

That was two days ago… he’d since received every manner of threat possible from various levels of Kumo shinobi, finding out they were all ‘related’ to the small blind girl somehow. He was still fuzzy on how exactly the head of Admin. knew the girl, let alone this short weirdo with pierced dark eyebrows, platinum blonde hair and never opened his eyes… it was weird. He’d had the joy of meeting her Aunt and Uncle, the village’s Jinchuuriki, whom only gave him fanged grins while showing a **_small_** portion of their demonic chakra, no words needed. A crazy redhead he wasn’t sure if it was a girl or not and a pale blonde with dreads that said if he didn’t take care of ‘her’ rival he’d wake up with several swords in an uncomfortable place… not to mention ‘missing’ a few pieces, the pale blonde boy with the dreads seemed rather concerned with him keeping his interest away from what he referred to as Kumo’s princess… not that Uenkai had any idea what the hell that meant as the little blind girl was more an Oni like her father than anything else. – _‘Princess’… yea right…_ \- There was also this weird couple that _politely_ threatened to flay and dismember him if something happened to the girl, as she was important to someone they highly respected…

… and the list went on and on, Uenkai was half convinced the girl didn’t even know half the people that threatened him as she seemed to jut quirk a brow at some of them before shrugging if she was there and didn’t believe him if she hadn’t been. Seriously, why didn’t she believe him about the old man with the scar around his left eye and the limp that Uenkai was almost sure was a Commander or something. The grandfatherly man had only grinned, expressing he and his would be ‘watching’ the boy for a friend.

“I’m not that important?” had been her confused response. He wanted nothing more than to disagree with the rising death threats he was getting…

Uenkai merely had to look to the side as they walked into the hospital, a trio of other newly minted genin pausing to get out of the smaller girl’s way. The tallest, a boy with grayish-blonde hair and bigger than him gave something of a salute commenting ‘Boss’ that the little girl waved at with a smirk, while a girl with sherbet orange hair and scimitars waved with a smile and another boy with mint hair and cold eyes just nodded. Yorihi seemed to at least know them as she waved by them with an honest grin… but the second she was past the trio turned on him with dark glares. The large boy with the grayish-blonde hair only had to crack his knuckles and Uenkai got the message. He just growled under his breath and followed after his teammate, the girl completely oblivious to the exchange. – _Now I’m being threatened by newly-minted genin… great…_ -

There was a man with red eyes reading a magazine at the nurses’ counter who didn’t even bother to look up at them, just waving his hand in Yorihi’s direction in a ‘shooing’ motion, already knowing why the girl was here. The nurse didn’t even bother to register Uenkai existed as he followed the smaller girl, _slightly_ scowling.

“Seichi-san!!” the smile on the girl’s face was audible as Uenkai glanced up past his small teammate to a large man stepping out of one of the rooms.

The dark skinned semi-giant paused momentarily to glance down at the girl with bright red eyes, something subtle about his features that made one think he was smiling, “Yorihi-hime?” his voice was clipped and deep yet strangely soft while addressing the girl who just walked up to him with a grin. They seemed to share a knowing ‘look’, probably translated via their eyebrows before the large man simply closed his eyes and gave the barest of nods, “They took her off the meds this morning, she should wake up some time today…” and with that he turned, stepping out of the barely restrained girl’s way.

Yorihi quickly stepped into the room, not another word needing to be said, leaving Uenkai to stand out in the hall and try not to stare at the older jounin so obviously. – _Where the hell does she meet these people?_ \- it was a reoccurring thought with how much of her ‘family’ he’d met in the past two days, each with their own variation of how they were going to skewer him alive should anything ‘happen’ to the arrogant little girl.

The large man with the sandy red hair and brilliant crimson eyes just stood still, arms crossed and imposing as he stared down at the boy without blinking.

Uenkai decided to just stare back, teal to red, and it took every effort he had to not give a threatening frown. He was honestly waiting for the man to start in on his own creative manner of ending his life…

Instead the man just seemed to turn and start walking down the hall.

The teal haired boy’s shoulders sagged, that hadn’t been what he was expecting, “Oookay…” with a flippant shrug he stepped forward and reached for the door, intent on following his teammate.

“Harm my sister or her friend,” that deep low voice called from a few feet down the hall, causing the young teen to turn to the jounin, spying only his back. The tall man glanced back over his shoulder just enough to show one of those threatening red eyes, before seemingly rolling his shoulder with a subtle, “Hmph…” and continuing on his way.

Teal eyes blinked. – _What was that…_ \- somehow it sent a shiver down his spine and was still _technically_ more intimidating then the Raikage’s colorful adage to how he’d just break him. With a quick shake of the head the teen finally just decided to open the door and follow his teammate, seeing what she was doing and shutting the door as soon as he was in the room. – _The ‘sister’ that man mentioned must be Tenkyuu’s friend…_ \- over the two days of being dragged through the ‘family’ he’d learned it was safest to refer to the girl by as non-personal a means as possible, such as ‘hey you!’ or ‘Oi!’ or anything that didn’t deal with directly addressing her by name. The girl seemed to understand, or just accepted it, but on the occasions he couldn’t help but be direct he said her surname, that was non-personal enough to not suggest _anything_ to her crazy family, he hoped, as literally **_ANYONE_** , apparently, could be part of it and they might use it as leverage to use against him… or reason enough to kill him. She’d just shrugged, for some reason calling him ‘Kumori-kun’ before even thinking about it…

The girl was surely going to be the death of him that was for sure.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head Uenkai moved slightly away from the door, in case anyone else came in, but far enough away to leave the girls to themselves. His blind teammate had at least attempted to visit this friend of hers over the two days previous, incurring the wrath of that scary eel-woman that ran Company V, one of the medical companies, and who was currently the one heading the hospital. That had been an enduring lecture he’d been forced to participate in before being dragged off to see the Raikage. Every day seemed to end up with him in front of the Raikage or near that damn tower being grilled by someone shady and high ranking, especially that desk clerk. Maybe it was just because he was now associated with the Raikage’s daughter and this was some manner of hazing… or this was really just a ‘normal day’ for the little girl, if so he was starting to understand how she had such indomitable endurance and flippancy around people.

But that was all speculation for another day… right now was her seeing her friend.

After the lecture two days ago, she’d tried again yesterday and he’d waited outside, finding no reason to be there as he didn’t know the girl nor planned to. Today was different just because the girl’s friend was supposed to be waking up today… and he figured he might as well get the death threats over with.

Uenkai just huffed in the corner, arms crossed as he leaned on the wall, watching as the blind girl fidgeted in the chair near her friend. It was strange watching her, he’d only known the girl for a few days and they’d both either spent them fighting each other or being put through the ringer by superiors. This was probably the first time he’d seen the girl so… still, so silent and he didn’t want to believe it but she seemed hesitant, like a little kid not knowing what to do. Without thinking the words left his mouth, “Is this the first time you’ve sat at a friend’s bedside…?”

Instead of stiffening the girl seems to… relax? That wasn’t right but she seemed to become _less_ tense, “No,” her normally so loud and threatening voice was soft, still somewhat harsh but he’d come to recognize that as just the way she talked and after meeting her father it made sense. There was the barest of shakes of her head but he noticed the fingers on her lap tightened, “When I was young… something… happened, that hurt a lot of people I care about…” she didn’t cry, if anything the frown on what little of her face he could see from that angle tightened and he’d say she was more angry then sad, “I nearly lost something very important than… so I guess I just don’t like hospitals much…”

There was a flippant shrug from the teal haired boy as he moved his head to look in front of him, the small girl only in his peripheries, “Don’t think anyone likes them…”

He wouldn’t know it but Yorihi was watching him without turning her head. It wasn’t easy for her to talk about stuff like what happened with the Nibi when she was young, or anything from before really, because a lot of it still didn’t make sense to her. She had been involved but unconscious for most of it, just waking up with no idea who she was or what happened with random flashes of things that didn’t make sense. But that wasn’t what made those memories hard to face again… it was the feeling of loss and how close she’d come to forgetting someone so important to her… then there had been the time after, her quick exposure to what being a shinobi was all about and training. Her life had been full of many things, mostly hard lessons she wasn’t sure others, especially around her age, understood or even _could_ understand. Watching Uenkai, the stony blank look that came over his face as he looked away… she could see he understood, if at least a little…

- _Maybe…_ \- pale hands tightened in her lap – _maybe Kemui-sama chose him because she could see in his eyes some of the things I’ve dealt with… maybe we’re supposed to learn from one another…_ \- the older boy still annoyed her, his backhanded tactics and superior ideology made her want to hit him, but when he was quiet… when he thought she couldn’t see him there was a stoic look about him, something thoughtful and while bruised and beaten didn’t show it. That look, it was almost admirable…

A small smirk picked at the edge of her lips as Bachiko decided to show up, taking up most of her lap and forcing her to pet him. – _And he has been dealing with everyone’s hazing quite well…_ \- Yorihi had not been involved with whatever plan her family was enacting with the constant string of smiling death threats but she had found it somewhat amusing watching Kumori’s reactions, the way he’d stiffen up or scowl was funny. Just the fact that she could tell he was biting his tongue so as not to insult a ‘superior officer’ and keep what small bit of face he had left never seemed to get old to her. She’d ask them all later what they were doing, since it didn’t make sense to her that they’d honestly be threatening him on her behalf, they all knew she was strong enough to handle herself. – _It must be some game…_ \- it was the only thing that made sense.

Bachiko snorted in her lap as she pressed down his long ears in an absent pet, he could easily skim her thoughts and couldn’t believe his Master could be so oblivious.

“Mmm…”

Tattooed brows twitched as hidden white eyes blinked at the sound, the wispy ghost cat in her lap cocking his ears up straight as they both turned towards the bed.

“Ugh…” dark eyelids pressed further as the bedridden girl slowly moved, not quite shaking her head but somewhat rolling.

Immediately Yorihi stood up, holding Bachiko in her arms, as she leaned over, tilting her ear more towards the bedridden dusky-pinkette that seemed to be waking up, “Xiao-chan?”

Instantly a fist went towards the blind girl’s head, which she ‘Eep!’ed at and reflexively dodged, while Xiao, still obviously quite asleep mumbled, “Shut… up… Oku…” the arm that had shot out as a fist dropped effortlessly as the girl rolled over and away, covering her face from the light, “Uhrmm…”

Again, both Yorihi and her cat blinked, in fact she could see thanks to her hidden eyes as Uenkai blinked his own teal eyes not sure what to make of the display.

To make things even weirder…

“XIAO-CHAN!!” everyone conscious jumped from the sudden emergence of a boy in a silly plated hat as Oku miraculously ‘appeared’ from under the bed, arms wide as if to give a bone-crushing hug as he smiled widely in an attempt to glomp the obviously still sleeping girl…

This time the automatic fist met its target… hitting Oku square in the nose, stopping his glomp and resulting in the boy uselessly falling to the floor.

Three sets of eyes blinked.

It was at this moment, with her fist still obviously extended that the sleeping medic-aspirant decided to crack open red eyes. She came face to face with the long snout, beady black eyes, and whiskered features of Lior, Oku’s badger, hanging off the side of her bed right next to her face. Narrowed red eyes stared at the badger’s black ones for a good long minute, obviously still waking up, before Lior just made a snort, pulled himself up fully onto the bed, curl in a ball by her chest as the girl sleepily brought her arm down and nuzzled the angry ball of black, white, and grey fur, mumbling, “Lior-kun, I missed you…”

The badger huffed in triumph.

There was a pathetic whine from the other side of the bed, though Yorihi was probably the only one that could see the dirty-blonde boy grinning, obviously happy his partner was ‘okay’.

Apparently that small display had been enough insanity for Uenkai, as his angsty teal eyes narrowly turned on his teammate, one hand absently pointing between the one curled up in bed with a vicious animal and the other groaning on the ground, to say, “Is this normal?”

Absently Yorihi nodded, “For as long as I’ve known them,” and sat back down, glad things were okay. Bachiko may have snorted but she decided to ignore him, “Xiao-chan, are you finally awake?”

There was an unintelligible grumble from under the white sheets as dusky-pink hair moved, “Yes, Princess, I’m awake,” the older girl rolled over with half open eyes to flatly stare at her friend, dragging the ball of angry fur with her and setting him on her stomach. Immediately her red eyes narrowed on the new plate covering the younger girl’s eyes, then seeming to recognize there was another voice, one she didn’t recognize. Red eyes slowly turned towards the unknown figure; an older boy with teal hair and eyes scowling at her. The half-awake girl blinked before she turned to Yorihi, absently pointing at Uenkai, “Who’s the hot guy?”

It sounded like metal hit the floor rather hard.

Uenkai’s left eye was twitching as the older teen seemed to seize up, not having expected such a comment.

Luckily Xiao, in her half-awake state, didn’t seem to be paying either male present any mind, her lazy red eyes solely on her female friend as she moved to sit up straighter, her body feeling heavy and her mind was already trying to catalogue what drugs they probably used on her.

Yorihi was oddly still… before her head tilted slightly to the left with one brow rising, “You mean Kumori-kun?”

Even half-awake a dusky-pink brow rose at the way the younger referred to the older guy. She yawned, then scratched her head absently, “If that’s the tall, dark, and broody guy standing over there,” again, pointing causing Uenkai to maybe narrow his teal eyes in a mild glare at the _younger_ girl.

There was another pitiful whine from the floor as the boy in the silly plated hat seemed to crawl up the foot of the bed, pouting cutely as he held onto the railing rather pathetically and whined, “Xiao-chan~”

He got a plastic cup in the face as the red eyed girl just scowled, “Go get me something to drink,” she glanced to the other male trying to out scowl her, “And take Mr. hot-and-broody with you!!” why she grinned that last bit no one would ever understand.

For whatever reason this seemed to kick a bit of a spine back into Oku, as the boy immediately jumped to his feet, expert overly-cute scowl on his face as he walked up to the taller boy and seemingly thug-off stared at him with his eyes closed.

Yorihi had to bite her lip to not laugh.

Uenkai was rightfully weirded out, frowning obviously as his teal eyes turned to the younger girl, hoping for some kind of help with what the hell was going on. Sadly she was facing her friend… not to mention she was blind so visual cues were effectively useless. – _damnit_ \- he turned back to the younger genin, taking note the boy _did_ possess a hitae-ate plate sewn into that stupid hat on his head, and growled down at him, quite familiar with Kumo-thuggish-interactions, “You first kid…”

The pale boy just seemed to cock his chin threateningly with a snort, before turning towards the door and opening it, turning back a moment, suddenly back to ‘cheery’ as he smiled at his bedridden partner still petting his badger in her lap, “Anything specific you want Xiao-chan?”

The girl just seemed to close her eyes with a wide yawn, absently waving to the dirty-blonde haired boy, “You know what I want…”

That stupid grin, “Course, hey Lior,” he seemed to turn to the badger that just seemed to growl at him, “Watch the girls, I’m counting on you buddy!” something of a bark, that the boy just continued to grin at… then he turned back to the older boy, adorable scowl back on his face, “C’mon!” and left.

Uenkai just stared at the open door, down to his teammate, to her friend, that growling badger, back to his teammate, and finally back at the door. He ended up just shaking his head and perhaps mumbling something under his breath sounding like ‘what the hell?’ before slumping out the door and closing it.

Yorihi was the first one to snicker in the quiet room after the boys left.

Then Xiao busted out laughing, obviously more awake then she had let on, “Oh my god… they’re going to kill each other…”

“I hope Oku-kun wins,” the younger girl said with a light snort.

Red eyes snapped to the girl, dusky-pink brow raised as she absently pet Oku’s badger, “What, not going to bet on your own partner?”

Again the younger girl snorted, “As if, the guy’s a jerk…”

That had Xiao bust out laughing for a good long minute before coming down, wiping her eyes, “Oh c’mon he can’t be that bad Princess,” a decidedly wicked smirk Yorihi recognized as something her Grandmother would do, spread on the girl’s dark features, “Least he’s good to look at~”

Flat tattooed brows met the red eyed girl’s grin.

“Oh… right,” the girl absently scratched her cheek embarrassed, forgetting for the moment the girl was blind.

“I honestly don’t get what you mean by any of that, but…” her hands came up with her fingers moving in a wavy gesture as a smirk may or may not have spread on the pale girl’s face, “But he did let me touch his face and put my hands through his hair,” something evil passed her mostly covered face, probably completely influenced by the cat smirking in her lap, “It was quite soft.”

Wide red eyes and a wide open mouth just stared at the younger girl. Xiao futilely tried to say something several times only to get nothing, then pointing at the girl as if scandalized, “Tenkyuu Yorihi!!” then a grin spread across her face, “I never would have expected such from you!!”

“What?” that confused adorable deer-in-headlights look came over the younger girl’s face as the cocky grin left and her eyebrows went up, “What’d I do?”

A devious grin that would make a certain desk clerk proud spread on the red eyed girl’s face as she reached out and mussed the younger girl’s hair, “You’re growing up so fast~” fake sniffling was involved.

“Xiao-chan!” immediately the blind girl tried to disentangle the girl’s dark hands from her hair, seriously!! Always with her hair or forehead!! Defensively pale hands remained on the girl’s dark locks as she brow-glared at the older girl, “I have no idea what you’re talking about…”

A cheeky grin spread on the older girl’s face as she sat back, pushing the pillows behind her up so she could sit up better, “Sure you don’t…”

It was quiet for a moment as one girl glared with her eyebrows and the other smirked openly. Then a grin started to spread on the younger girl’s pale face and for whatever reason she started laughing, Xiao quickly joining her.

As the giggling came down Yorihi just grinned widely, “I’m glad you’re okay Xiao-chan.”

“Yea,” another great yawn, “Suppose I am,” she raised one hand to rub her shoulder as everything still felt heavy and stiff, “Ugh, trust my relatives to give me a few extra doses of the heavy stuff, just because I went a little rough, pfft…”

The pale girl just grinned, “Seichi-san was very worried about you,” she noticed the older girl stiffen at the mention of her older brother and pout a little, the blind girl decided to store that in the back of her mind for later, “Oku-kun as well…” this time the older girl visible slacked, almost smiling.

“I bet he was worrying his head off,” she snorted, cracking her neck so as to not look at the blind girl directly.

“Mm,” Yorihi nodded, petting the ghost cat laying her lap, “When he came to see me he mentioned your brother preventing him from seeing you,” that caused a dusky-pink brow to rise, the blind girl just shrugged, “I think he was worried Oku-kun’s worry would have woken you up…”

“Pfft,” red eyes rolled, “Surprised they didn’t just dose him…” she rolled her shoulder again, garnering a grumble from Lior about his spot moving, “I know I would have if someone was messing with one of my patients…”

“Eh-heh…” Yorihi gave an uncomfortable laugh, not putting it past Xiao to do such, after all she was more than willing to injury a patient further to get them to stop moving… so… yea… dosing worried friends and family? Totally within the realm of ‘reason’.

A narrowed red eye glanced at the nervously giggling girl, specifically at the plate covering her eyes. A much more serious look came over the older girl’s face as she looked away continuing her ‘wake up’ stretching, “By the way…”

“Hmm?” blue-black brows rose.

“… Congratulations,” serious red eyes glanced back at the blind girl, “For passing…”

There was something oddly defeated in the older girl’s voice, causing Yorihi to scrunch up her brows and tilt her head, “Thanks Xiao-chan,” she tried smiling but already the dusky-pinkette was looking away. This caused the younger girl to frown, confused. – _What’s up with her?_ \- absently a pale hand raised to run along the insignia of Kumo, making the younger girl smile earnestly, “I don’t think I could have done it without you…”

A snort was her immediate response, “Yeah right,” flippantly a dark hand waved as the girl kept looking away, “You’re Kumo’s _Princess_ , there’s no way they would’a failed you…”

A small growl came from the younger girl, “It would’a been easy,” she automatically bit back, hoping to get the girl to face her again, “My control’s been on the fritz since I came back from training and the stuff I did with you helped me out the most,” Yorihi raised her hands channeling enough chakra to line them in a smooth outline of blue, “Seven months ago I never would have been able to do this,” she raised her head and faced the older girl, “The Chakra Field and training with you and your Minazuki has helped me get back my control of my chakra,” she held out her right hand in a fist towards the older girl, stopping the chakra flow in the left and focusing all her attention on the right. After a good long minute of concentration, maybe or maybe not with the help of the bakeneko in her lap, a short blade of chakra shot out making it look like she was holding a knife in a reverse grip.

Red eyes were wide as the older girl just stared, never having seen _pure chakra_ formed into a weapon right in front of her. – _Holy hell… this girl…!!_ \- Those red eyes went straight to the plate, understanding there was no reason this girl didn’t deserve it if she could do something like that.

The younger girl gave a strained grin, it still wasn’t perfect, and somewhat unstable, but thanks to the older girl in front of her she was back on track to what she had achieved in the mountains and with chakra reserves several times bigger, “Thank you, Xiao-chan.”

The dusky-pinkette could only blink, surprised by the earnestness in the girl’s voice, it made her feel embarrassed as a bit of red spread on her cheeks. She turned away as the younger girl lowered her hand and released the chakra, rubbing her cheek embarrassed with the back of her hand, “I-I didn’t do anything…”

“Hehe,” the pale girl grinned wide, enjoying watching the normally so boisterous older girl all embarrassed, “What do you mean, Xiao-chan? Of course you did…” red eyes scowled at the blind girl, obviously not getting what she was saying. The grin only spread on the blind girl, “You beat me, obviously~”

Dusky-pink brows furrowed, “The hell are you talking about Princess?”

The grin spread wider on the pale girl, it really was getting creepy, Bachiko couldn’t be more proud of his Master, “Hehe, guess you haven’t heard yet~”

Red eyes narrowed as the older girl gave her patented ‘mom’ glare to the younger girl that as far as she knew couldn’t see it, “What haven’t I heard?”

Innocently Yorihi put a finger to her chin musingly, “I don’t know, perhaps I should let Oku-kun tell you… he _was_ rather excited about it…”

“ ** _Yorihi_** …” the red eyed girl growled, leaning towards the younger.

Who only raised her hands, grinning wide, “Hehe,” She’d have to talk to Yugito-nee-chan about this; it really was a lot of fun pushing Xiao-chan’s buttons. When the dark skinned girl leaned in, fist raised and managed to crackle slightly with her lightning affinity Yorihi decided it was good enough to just tell her, “Okay, okay, okay,” she leaned back further, hands up and waiting for the scowling older girl to sit back and take a deep breath… before grinning cheekily, “But from what Oku-kun told me when I woke up, you got the top slot for our graduating class!!”

Red eyes just blinked.

Hidden white ones did as well, “Uh, Xiao-chan?” a cyan tattooed brow rose, not sure how to interpret the blank look on the older girl’s face.

Suddenly there was a deep sigh from the older girl as she visibly deflated into her small wall of pillows, “Nice try Princess,” she moved further down into a more laying down position and moving the angry ball of fur that was Lior into a more manageable spot on her chest, looking at him straight as she rubbed around his tiny fuzzy ears, “Like I’d get the top slot with someone like you in our class…”

The younger girl sitting next to her snorted quite openly like an Oni, “It’s true!”

“Yea right,” the older girl waved her hand defeated, “I may have been drugged for however long but I still remember the end of that fight,” seriously red eyes stared at the ceiling, “After that stupid move I fell, getting shot down by Moe-sensei,” an indignant snort as she closed her eyes, “I failed obviously…”

There was a _mild_ growl from the small blind girl, “Have I ever lied to you?”

“Are we talking intentionally or via omission?” the dusky-pink haired girl rolled on her side, Lior up by her chest whom she delicately pet and her back facing the younger girl. It didn’t really do anything, she knew, despite being blind she’d spent enough time around the little maniac to know Yorihi had some means of gauging things with her other senses. Chances were it wouldn’t matter which way she laid down, the girl would ‘see’ the upset frown on her dark face.

Yorihi rolled her eyes, not that anyone could see it, so reflexively clicked her tongue, “Tsk,” as her tattooed brows moved, “technically I’ve never lied to you directly, as ‘by omission’ is a moot point because one cannot know they are ‘lied to’ if said thing is never said…” she flatly pet the ethereal cat in her lap who only yawned.

Despite her depressed mood, Xiao couldn’t help but snicker. – _Trust the Princess to get all technical about lying…_ \- Absently the bedridden girl scratched the seemingly purring badger, he was growling, as that was all badgers did, but this was a somewhat _less_ angry growl Xiao had only ever heard when it was just her and Lior, so she figured it was as close as the ball of fur and fury got to purring. – _I want to believe her…_ \- another pet – _I really do…_ \- but the logical part of the older girl’s mind told her that was impossible. It was a generally held rule; you fall, you fail as it was synonymous with dying. It had been a reckless attack but she had thought it would have ended the pseudo-war… not drain her to the point she couldn’t move and put in a medically induced coma. Her hand may have come down a bit harder on Lior’s head, causing his purring to become more growly. Red eyes flatly looked at the badger, “What am I going to do with you,” another rough pet, “Won’t get to see you all the time now…”

If the older girl bothered to look, she’d see rather flat tattooed brows twitch, “You didn’t fail, you surpassed me, and Oku’s still your partner…”

A snort from the dusky-pinkette, “C’mon you can’t be so oblivious to not know the most _basic_ rules,” she turned enough to glare with one red eye on the girl, “You fall, you fail,” in a huff the older girl roughly laid back down, throwing her arm out in a wide gesture, “My attack failed, I got shot down, ergo I failed…”

It was Yorihi’s turn to snort, as the blind girl crossed her arms, honestly surprised the girl was being so obstinate about this absurdity, “I suppose under normal circumstances that would be true, but did you ever wonder how you didn’t just _die_ from a several hundred foot drop?”

The raised hand stilled as the older girl visibly thought about that…

Another snort as the younger girl adjusted to sit back further in her chair, “I don’t know when they set it up, but I’m sure Jiro and his siblings from the other two classes got together with their summons and made a large web that spanned the entire basin that caught everyone after Ruri-sensei’s massive summon attack,” a light smirk pulled on the girl’s pale mostly covered face, “It’s likely if it weren’t for your attack distracting the Masters so well they wouldn’t have been able to get it up in time to catch people just above the cloud line,” then a cheeky grin spread under the hitae-ate that made a certain cat proud as a red eye turned to glare at the younger girl, “You got caught, ergo you didn’t fail.”

“The Gumo triplets,” a huffy snort left the older girl as she turned over on her back, rolling her red eyes quite obviously, “I didn’t think they’d gotten far enough to summon anything bigger than their pinky…”

Yorihi snickered, “I don’t think Moe or Ruri-sensei thought **_you_** could summon up a Minazuki you could ride, let alone fire off a lightning attack with it that could take out half the basin’s wall,” an earnest smile passed the blind girl’s lips as she undid her arms and leaned on them, “I’m sure Kuri-sensei was the most impressed…”

Red eyes passively turned to the blind girl then quickly went to the white ceiling, “Lightning pierces earth, it was just a bad setup,” there was _not_ an embarrassed blush on her face… Not. _At. **All.**_

The blind girl just kept smiling, ignoring her friend’s discomfort at such praise, “Still I don’t think genin can normally do stuff like that, when did you work that out?”

Completely ignoring the pink making her face a bit darker than normal, Xiao glanced at the younger girl. For a moment she had no idea what to say. Truthfully she had never thought of using the Minazuki in such a way until she’d seen Yorihi using her weird cat as a means to help mold and control her chakra. Xiao figured her own control and molding ability was above par and wanted to see what she could do with it; almost daily for at least a month she had seen the crazy blind girl form pure chakra with just her will into all manner of shapes, mostly barriers against the Minazuki swarm, but to do such, especially without seals was next to impossible… but she had seen it, and it had made her want to try something different. Staring at the oddly curious girl, Xiao felt compelled to tell her the truth… even if she hadn’t realized it at the time. A grin spread on her face, wide enough to close her eyes, “Since I saw you do that barrier thing and figured in our future spars I’d need an attack that could pierce it!”

Underneath the hitae-ate white eyes went as wide as they could, shown only in how high her blue-black brows rose, “Xiao-chan…”

The older girl just grinned, amused by the surprised look on the girl. She picked up Lior under his arms and held him above her for a moment as her fixation to smirk at, he gave a hiss but by his standards it was rather mild, “Though now you got that knife-thing I’m gonna have to come up with something else, huh?”

The shock seemed to leave Yorihi as she just grinned, giving an enthusiastic nod, “Mmhmm,” her grin widened, “That is if you can find time between all your new missions with Oku-kun~”

Flat red eyes stared at that shiny hitae-ate as the older girl brought her arms down and held the huffy badger, “I still have a hard time believing you…”

The blind girl made a motion like she was rolling her eyes, the grin slipping into a pout, “I didn’t want to ruin the surprise or anything but if it’ll get rid of that doubt you keep having,” her head tilted down slightly as she faced Lior, “Lior-kun, would you mind getting the gift out from under the bed.”

An odd badger-brow rose as the growly ball of fur and fury stared at the strange girl with his beady little eyes.

Another snort from the younger girl, “I know, neither you nor Oku-kun told me but I can _sense_ it’s there,” a _slight_ smirk rose on her face, “And I wouldn’t put it past Oku-kun to want to surprise Xiao-chan with-”

“OKAY!!” the bedridden girl had her face all scrunched up angry with her eyes closed, “I’m not going to ruin one of Oku’s stupid surprises…” there was a grin that spread on the younger girl’s face that seemed entirely too pleased with itself, causing the older girl to scowl, “I’ll believe you… for now.”

“Hehe…” Yorihi did not snicker, of course not, that was wholly unbecoming for the Raikage’s daughter!

“Oh, shut it,” a pillow was thrown at the blind girl who merely dodged. The older girl just growled, leaning back on what she had left and crossed her arms, red eyes narrowly glancing at the younger girl, “So, you going to tell me about this guy that’s apparently your partner?”

It was amazing how quickly the smirk left the young oni’s face, “Ugh, Xiao-chan…”

A dark hand came up with one finger out as if making a point as the older genin said sagely, “No whining,” Before pointing at the younger girl and grinning evilly, “You owe me!”

“Since when!” Oni did not back down, and a look that was significantly more successful on the current Raikage passed the young girl’s face. It looked hilarious.

So of course the medic-aspirant busted out laughing before she reached out and ruffled the younger girl’s hair, “Since I said so!!”

“That’s not valid!!” was the girl’s biting come back, it was weak and no one cared. The air between the two young girls was relatively back to normal and in a way both were just glad for it. So of course Xiao continued to laugh mercilessly while Yorihi recounted her ‘adventures’ since waking up in her own hospital bed with a certain worried boy in a silly now-plated hat.

\-----

Somewhere down the hall near vending machines…

Oku was bent over slightly, intently examining the selection on the drink machine in front of him, scrutinizing it to the point he had a hand on his chin, eyes closed in serious squinty thought and going, “Hmm…”

Uenkai was flatly staring at the younger boy quite bored. – _Will he make his damn decision already…_ \- the apparently thuggish pale boy had done nothing but piss him off since the moment he closed the door and left the girls alone in that room. Then again that dark girl with the pink hair hadn’t really **_not_** pissed him off either… maybe he was too old to get these kids; they all seemed to just piss him off.

“So,” the dirty blonde with the stupid hat finally said something, “what’re you going to get Yorihi-hime?”

- _Again with the damn ‘hime’ thing…_ \- mentally the older boy rolled his eyes, in reality he just grunted, crossing his arms and leaning on the wall relatively close to the younger boy, keeping him within sight, that was all.

Oku scowled at the senior genin again, it was obvious Yorihi’s new partner didn’t think much of them, being new genin and all, but he didn’t like that the guy was so obviously rude. Sure, they were Kumo-nin, ‘polite’ was a foreign concept best left for those that liked pomp and circumstance, in Kumo it was your strength that showed your worth, along with how loud and open you were about it. This guy was emo, at best. Just broody, standoffish, and annoying, they had a few like that in their class, some older kids that had failed the graduation test more than once but even they eventually got over themselves. Obviously this guy never got the memo…

With a somewhat sigh Oku pressed a button on the vending machine, waited the second for the drink to be dispensed before leaning enough to grab it, shake it vigorously in one hand and threw it at the new guy.

The teal haired genin didn’t seem all that surprised by the toss, he caught it and gave that scowl like everything annoyed him... then he looked at the can in his hand… it was hot pink. **_That_ ** had his stern eyes widening a bit before turning a heated glare at the younger boy who only grinned, “What the hell is this?”

Oku just put on his prize winning grin, “You looked like you needed to mellow out…”

Uenkai visibly growled, staring at the can again. The super-hot-pink can boasted something about raspberries and relaxation, trust a hospital to serve something probably laced with something to dose stressed out friends and family of patients. A teal eye glanced back at the younger boy, pulling out a purple can from the machine mentioning something about pomegranates, before popping the tab and taking a drink. Skeptical eyes just watched the younger genin, taking inventory of his entire outfit: cargo shorts, vest, some knapsack attached to his back over the left shoulder and a few other pouches or places to hide things. The kid didn’t look completely unprepared like he’d seen some genin…

Narrowly glancing back at the obvious attempt at humor drink, Uenkai decided this was either a truce gesture or challenging declaration of war, either way there was no reason to not drink the damn thing, it’s not like he could poison it…

Didn’t mean he couldn’t booby-trap it!

The second Uenkai popped the tab he got a face full of some kind of raspberry pink milk drink. He was shaking with rage by the time he registered the kid laughing next to him. Angry teal eyes surrounded by pink-foamy liquid glared righteous fury as the younger boy snorted purple.

“Haha,” Oku was doubled over trying not to cough up more of his purple drink, “Man you need to work on your trap detection!!”

There was a subtle growl as that oddly pink can got chucked at the dirty blonde’s stupid plated hat, “What kind of person booby-traps a comrade?”

“The kind that cares,” a faint grin showed on the pale boy’s face as he turned to the older boy with seemingly closed eyes. A surprised looked passed over Uenkai that Oku dismissively turned away from as he stood up straight, “C’mon…”

Teal eyes narrowed on the strange young genin, “Aren’t you going to get a drink for that girlfriend of yours?”

Oku just turned back with a grin, sheepishly scratching the back of his head, “Oh that? Naa,” he waved his hand dismissively as he started back down the hall, “Xiao-chan just wanted a moment alone with Yorihi-hime, girl-talk or whatever, s’all kinda weird ya know!!”

Uenkai glared at the cheeky grin staring back at him, “And how do you know she wasn’t being serious?”

Another smirk from the pale kid, “Partners just know, ya know…”

Tight fists got shoved into pockets as the older genin got off the wall he’d been leaning on and followed the grinning moron. There were just too many reminders…

“Oh hey?” the kid snapped his fingers and turned back to the older teal haired boy, “You might wanna get something for Yorihi-hime though…”

A thuggish snarl passed the taller dark skinned boy’s face, “You’re not getting your partner a drink, why should I?”

That strangely knowing yet stupid gentle smile passed the younger boy’s pale face, “ ‘cause I don’t have anything to prove…”

A growl was the pale boy’s response as the older genin pushed his way passed him, fists tightly in his pockets and shoulders up to his ears, “Last time I tried to be nice we got beat over the head and dragged in to see her father…”

The sudden laughter from the pale boy was a surprise, the sympathetic pat on the shoulder even more so, “Yea…” Oku was covering his wide grin pitifully with his free hand, “That tends to happen…”

Another growl as Uenkai roughly shoved his shoulder, removing the younger genin’s sympathetic hand. It wasn’t normal for someone no better than a stranger to be so sympathetic… it was weak and stupid…

“Well,” the boy in his stupid plated hat obviously didn’t notice his compatriot’s tiffyness, or didn’t care, as he shrugged, stepping ahead and leading them again, “Let’s go check on them,” his grin grew, “Chances are Xiao’s about to say something that’ll cause all sorts of problems…”

Narrow teal eyes skeptically stared at the back of the boy’s head, “And why would you say that?”

A flippant shrug of the boy’s smaller shoulders, “tends to happen when I leave those two alone together…”

Against his will a _slight_ smirk picked at the edge of Uenkai’s lips as he looked to the side out the windows of the hall at the clouds outside, “Think I know what’cha mean…”

Oku just grinned that silly squinty eyed grin of his, “Just take care of her man, it’s all any’a us can ask ya…”

“Tch,” Uenkai didn’t have any more of a response to that random comment. With the past few days he knew there was a lot more people could say… but this kid? He was either an idiot too stupid to lie or a genius too smart to bother. He figured he could like that for a little while, “Whatever man…”

\-----

The trip to the hospital was cut short when the unfortunate phrase, “Let’s get out of here,” left Xiao’s lips.

As if by the act of an evil god or having some detector the door to the red-eyed girl’s room slammed open and a tall, slim, pale woman with slick purple hair that went to the ground and one visible narrow pink eye stood before the two girls.

Xiao was still and Yorihi had her shoulders up to her ears stiff as a rock.

That slim pink eye went from one girl to the other, narrow and ready to strike at any sudden movements, “Tenkyuu-san, I see you have returned,” the woman’s smooth voice seemed to slither around the air of the room causing both genin to squirm, “Visiting another graduate I see…”

Both girls just swallowed hard.

“I trust neither of you are planning anything _troublesome_ , hmm?” there was nothing _suspicious_ in that voice, not at all.

There were two immediate shakes of the head as the blind girl responded, “O-of course not Anago-san…”

There was an obvious twitch to a slim immaculate purple brow, “Anako, brat, _A-Na- **Ko!**_ ”

“Not from what I’ve seen,” Xiao inadvertently mumbled under her breathe glancing at the wall.

Within seconds the distance between the medical Commander and the patient disappeared as the towering, terrifying woman glared down with the narrow pink eye, “Did you say something Utsurabon?”

Xiao immediately shrunk under the woman’s terrifying gaze, “N-no… nothing at all ma’am…”

A bead of sweat was running down Yorihi’s neck as she sat perfectly still, hoping the woman standing next to her wouldn’t notice she was even there.

A seeming laser-guided glare through the woman’s long bang directed down at the younger girl sitting in the chair, who squeaked, “You’re not improperly influencing any of my other patients are you Tenkyuu-san?”

The pale girl only shook her head in the negative.

That pink eye narrowed more, “I should hope not…”

“Anago-Taichou!!” a voice called from the door as that one male nurse with the orange hair and red eyes seemed to run in panting and out of breath, hands on his knees as he was pointing down the hall, “Th-there’s-”

For all his effort he got one of his Commander’s spiny heels in his back. Said tall, slim, slippery eel-like woman was growling and glaring down at her pitiful subordinate, “ _A-NA- **KO**_!!” she dug the heel in more, “How many times do I have to say it!!”

There was a pitiful man squeal as he futilely kept pointing down the hall.

The tall slim woman just huffed, deliberately walking over the male nurse, “This way?” there was a sound under her pointy heels that might have been a positive response, who knows, “Very well,” a flippant wave from the pale woman, “Shoo these visitors out, your cousin needs her rest…”

Another squeak, it may have been a ‘yes ma’am’.

The Commander of Company V didn’t care as she sauntered her way out, towards whatever that required her assistance. She flippantly huffed at two boys that stopped to bow their respect, well the pale one did; the other she recognized as one of their previous long-term patients who just seemed to ignore her passing. She did the same, once out of the hospital they were no longer her concern after all.

When Oku and Uenkai got back to the room there was a male-nurse stunned on the floor with heel prints in his back and both girls seemed to be a in a mild state of shock. Oku simply turned to his darker skinned male compatriot and said, “See, told you.”

Uenkai’s hand met face.

\-----

The _small_ incident required another trip to the Raikage’s tower, much to Uenkai’s chagrin.

This meant _another_ opportunity for that strange desk clerk to creatively describe how many different ways she could take him apart with a simple knife, Tenkyuu’s father giving him that ‘you are beneath me’ glare, whatever from whoever else was related to the strange girl that hadn’t already had a chance to threaten him and potentially a rap-threat from the largest of Jinchuuriki Kumo had to offer. The last one wasn’t so bad as he could tell the bull-horn tattooed guy Tenkyuu called ‘Oji-chan’ was probably the least likely to purposely rip his head off… as strange as that was, the other Jinchuuriki he had no idea about, she was sneaky like a cat so had to be watched and despite knowing how well his father’s techniques worked on certain _other_ feline-demons he wasn’t exactly confident he could take down **_THE_** Nibi.

… not that he should be considering taking down any Jinchuuriki, the village needed them after all, they were a sign of power, the Raikage’s power… he should probably try to get on their good side.

“Kumori-kun?” a soft voice cut into the boy’s ponderings as once again the duo were exiting the swooshing glass doors of the Raikage’s tower.

“Hm,” his response was no more than a grunt; He could still hear the cat-calling of that damn desk clerk.

A blue-black brow rose as she stared forward, “Something bothering you?”

Without thinking his shoulders shrugged, “What gave you that idea?”

Her head tilted in that animal way, like her demon did when it was curious or confused, “You seem… distracted...?”

“Hmp,” another shrug as he gave a soft snort, shoving his hands in his pockets, “Nothing, just wondering when they’ll give us orders…” it was aggravating, the wait, he’d already dealt with it once before and it seemed knowing what was to come made it infinitely worse.

“Oh,” out of the corner of his eye he watched as the blind girl seemed to stare off in a random direction, her actions were sometimes very strange and he wondered how she learned to mimic normal people so well, “Do you know what they’re going to do with us next?”

For a moment the older genin just snorted and glared back at her, when she didn’t so much as move he was reminded she _was_ in fact blind and such a gesture was useless. He sighed, “Hard to say,” a dark hand raised as ran through his short teal hair, “Last time we had a week free while all the paperwork processed or whatever final decisions,” the hand dropped with a slight sigh as his shoulder shrugged, “Though I had hoped with you being ‘special’ and all, and me being former the transition would be shorter…”

That pout he was starting to become extremely familiar with that she made when someone said something she highly disagreed with crossed the girl’s pale face, “I’m not special…”

Without realizing it he gave a short laugh, “Yea right…”

She shoved him and continued walking down the bridge.

Uenkai had to blink a moment as he hadn’t expected such a… _childish_ and familiar reaction from the girl. A more honest grin came to his face that he quickly tried to rid himself of when he noticed as he walked up behind her, catching up easily with his longer stride, “Just tellin’ the truth,” he crossed his arms, that damn smirk still not leaving his lips as he noticed she was walking angrily stiff with her shoulders near her ears, “You’re the Raikage’s daughter,” he started counting off on his fingers for no reason, “You passed the crash course, you got trained by his personal assassin, got some external training outside the village,” he had four fingers out with the thumb still tucked as his teal eyes glanced at the girl, each ‘comment’ causing her shoulders to rise higher, finally to the point her familiar decided to apparently show itself, probably amused as well by her discomfort. Without thinking Uenkai reached out and roughly pet the demon cat with his now open hand, “And you got this demon as a pet,” when he removed his hand both pet and master looked extremely miffed, the smirk was definitely not leaving his face any time soon, “So yea, you’re kinda special kid…”

There was something like a growl but not loud enough as the girl slowly lowered her shoulders, “You’re not old enough to call me ‘kid’…”

A teal brow cocked, “Oh yea? Says who?”

“Me,” if he didn’t know any better the short girl was stomping, it’d probably be intimidating coming from someone of her father’s caliber, but her? Nope.

The older genin gave a mocking chuckle, “Sorry _kid_ ,” it was amusing how she growled, “but you’re not really an authority here, I’m the senior genin, so what I say goes…”

“Tch,” hidden white eyes rolled as the girl cracked her neck, “Keep thinking that, we’ll see how long it lasts…”

The older boy smirked, “Considering I’m the only one that can **_see_** here, I think I’ll take my chances…”

The younger girl growled.

“That’s not very ladylike, Yorihi-hime,” a very soft and seemingly kind voice cut in between the two genin ‘arguing’.

The boy immediately dropped all pretense, bowing with respect, “Kemui-sama.”

While the girl seemed to still, turn directly on the voice as a shocked look came about her cute pale face. Then it brightened excitedly as she ran up to the woman and stopped just short of glomping her, “Kemui-sama!!”

The finicky feline on the girl’s shoulder had no compunctions, quickly hopping on to the older woman’s shoulder and nuzzling behind her head as he went from one shoulder to the other. A pale hand raised enough to catch the bakeneko’s forked tail as he passed, wrapping it for a moment around her deadly fingers then jumping back down to his master.

A light barely there smile passed the Assassin’s pale face as her eyes followed the ethereal feline, spying the excited little girl with the new plate covering her precious eyes. Without a thought the woman reached out and ran a thumb over the insignia on the plate, the smile growing just the smallest bit, “Congratulations, Yorihi-hime.”

The blind girl visibly squirmed, suppressing whatever urge to loudly respond as Uenkai had come used to her doing with anyone else. Instead she seemed almost grateful, earnest, and abashed as he head tilted slightly down and red ran across the visible parts of her face, “T-thank you, Kemui-sama…”

A serene look came over the older woman as her grey gaze rose enough to recognize the boy following her Lord’s Daughter, a _slight_ smirk may or may not have come to the edge of her smile, “I trust you’ve been getting along with your new partner?” who she was directing the question to was anyone’s guess which was probably why she got an answer from both.

“Yes.” “No.”

A white brow rose slightly, “Oh?” both genin seemed to growl at each other as some part of the older woman, that she would completely deny, found their opposition quite amusing.

Uenkai took a step forward, crossing an arm over his chest like he was giving a professional mission report, “Since your departure for your mission Kemui-sama I have continued my training as well as contacting… her,” there was a shudder before his mind could figure out how to reference the girl in front of the woman. He knew she noticed, there was a shift in her gaze but he couldn’t tell if it was amused or deadly, “She had awoken early and I proceeded to… test her abilities,” he closed his eyes with a frown, not wanting to continuing seeing that look, “They were adequate.”

The younger girl growled louder than before, “Tch,” she crossed her arms and seemed to act like her Oni of a father, “He’s a jerk Kemui-sama,” she turned halfway towards the woman, feeling a need to just complain to her Teacher like she normally would, “He stole my swords, was a jerk in front of Karui and Omoi, got me in trouble with Anago-san, harassed Oku-kun-”

“I _did **NOT!!**_ ” Uenkai’s professionalism could only hold out so far… seriously, none of that was his fault!! And he did no harass that younger male genin, if anything the boy was threatening him the whole time!!

“-he used some strange techniques that could have **_seriously_** hurt Bachi-chan!!” the girl was definitely growling at this point as her tattooed eyebrows were distinctly glaring at the boy, “Not to mention he threatened Otou-sama…”

Teal brows lowered as he glared back at the girl; that was a low blow, especially to say to someone like the Last Assassin, “I was perfectly respectful to your father!”

“You said you wanted to kill him,” there was a serious scowl on the girl’s face, the way she said it made it sound like she didn’t believe he could but that she wasn’t eliminating him as a possible threat, “take the hat all for some strange political reason-”

“That is personal and not something you say in front of-” the boy was practically gritting his teeth, worried he was losing what little credibility he had gained in front of the Assassin; a woman he had quickly come to respect. Teal eyes worriedly looked to the woman, afraid the way she looked at him would change…

It didn’t, Kemui was still looking at the two of them like an amused adult at two children, “Then it seems the two of you have been getting along well…”

“Kemui-sama!!” the younger girl seemed to almost whine, not sure how to take the serene tone in her Teacher’s voice.

A quick poke in the forehead had the younger girl stopped dead in her tracks, a quite obviously amused look on the older woman’s face, “I am glad for your concern about your father, Yorihi-hime,” the pale hand was quickly retracted, as if the gesture had never occurred, as the woman’s steely eyes traveled from one genin to the other, “But even you have to learn to deal with those that seek the power your Father has, you are a konoichi now, you are obligated to protect the Raikage, correct?”

“I’d protect him anyway,” the girl pouted, rubbing her forehead while her cat giggled at her getting shot down.

That barely-there soft smile returned to the Assassin as she looked over her student, “I know you would, but just as you now have this as a duty,” her steely eyes traveled to the slightly older boy, “He does as well, correct, Uenkai-kun?”

There was no doubt as the boy gave a quick decisive nod, “Of course Kemui-sama, I would give my life for the Raikage,” his narrow teal eyes turned to his partner, “Not that I still don’t plan to beat him and take his title.”

While the two children glared at each other the Assassin simply gave a nod, beginning her way forward, “It is a difficult goal to work towards,” she stopped in front of the boy, serious steel eyes staring directly into the boy’s equally serious teal ones, “Make sure you are a worthy opponent…” for a moment she glanced back over her shoulder at the confused young girl, “You will have many to face before you get to him after all,” those steel eyes returned to the boy, “Including me…”

“Of course, Kemui-sama,” the normally so arrogant boy bowed his head sincerely; “I intend to train my hardest to not disappoint.”

An odd look came over the veteran’s face before another of those strangely soft smiles appeared as she reached out and set her hand on the boy’s bowed head, “Just don’t forget your current duties…”

The boy stilled, not out of shock or stiffness but to show he was serious as he gave the barest nod under the woman’s hand, “Of course… Kemui-sama.”

With that the woman gave another odd smile and removed her hand, intent to continue on her way.

“Kemui-sama?” before Yorihi called out to her long-time Teacher, something about the Assassin’s actions not seeming right.

The white woman glanced back at the girl with that familiar barely-there smile, “Yorihi-hime?” the smile grew slightly as she turned more towards the girl, “I must continue to give your father my mission report, it may take some time, would you mind checking in on Sutego for me?”

Tattooed brows lowered – _What are you avoiding Kemui-sama?_ \- either her senses were all off or something was going on that Yorihi didn’t know about and from the vibe she was getting she wouldn’t like it. Her focus shifted from her ‘partner’ to her Teacher, Kemui-sama would probably somehow know she had done it but Uenkai hadn’t spent enough time around the girl to truly read her microexpressions. A nudge mentally from Bachiko told her she couldn’t pursue her feeling just yet and the young girl found little reason to disagree. All she could do was nod and push the instinct aside, “Of course Kemui-sama, Jun should be watching him.”

A grateful smile passed the older woman’s face, something so small probably only Yorihi would notice, “Thank you,” she turned, throwing over her shoulder, “I will send Mabui if it takes too long…”

An unconscious smirk rose on the younger girl’s lips as she gave an unconscious nod, “Of course,” the smirk grew to something probably sinister, “I’m sure Baba would love to know that as well…”

The Assassin stopped long enough to send a flat grey look at the girl before giving the barest of sighs, “I knew it was a terrible idea to let that woman anywhere near you…”

“Kemui-sama?” surprisingly it was Uenkai, with confused teal brows cocked that responded, close enough to the woman to hear the comment.

“Nothing,” a pale hand waved behind her before continuing, “if you two will excuse me…” and with that the Assassin quickly made her way the two had come.

“Hehe,” Yorihi just kept grinning at the way her Teacher went, it was rare but amusing the small moments she saw the older woman not as stringent, not as solely her ‘Teacher’. The young girl figured her ability to notice these small moments was from spending time with Tougemichi, the old blind Assassin was much more gruff and subtle. The blind girl turned with a grin on her face, intent on stopping by her Grandmother’s place to check in on her little brother-of-sorts.

It was as she was making her way to the right bridge from the small platform they were on she noticed a distinct _lack_ of footsteps following her. Raising a brow, Yorihi focused her sight and noticed Uenkai staring off the way Kemui-sama had gone, before turning and heading towards a different bridge. Normally she’d leave the jerk to his own devices but something about today, probably in the way he walked or the look on his face she couldn’t quite see, caused the young oni to turn, hands on her hips and scowl in the direction of the older boy, “Where do you think you’re going?”

The teal haired teen stopped mere feet from his adjoining bridge, a surprised look on his face as he turned to the suddenly imposing small girl, “To train,” he gave an indifferent shrug, “Not much else to do…”

“You can come with me,” the words were out of her mouth before she really thought about it, and after a second of him staring at her somewhat wide eyed she shrugged nonchalantly, turning enough to hopefully obscure the red dusting her cheeks, “I mean, might as well,” she raised a hand, scratching the back of her head nervously, “It won’t take long to check on Sutego-kun, then we can go train together…”

Teal eyes narrowed skeptically, looking the girl up and down but in the end finding no real reason to say ‘no’, “Tch,” with a rough shrug the older boy shoved his hands in his pockets and moved to follow the girl, biting out a rough, “Sure, whatever…”

Yorihi just snorted, stepping in front of him gracefully, feeling like she’d somehow won this match.

\-----

It wasn’t long before they were standing in front of Reki’s apartment door, Yorihi having her arm raised to knock…

… only for the door to slide back before a sound was made.

“Shh,” a tall man of about 18 stood in the middle of the open door, short brown hair sticking up in a decent cut over a Kumo headband as thin black eyes and a long tan face smiled gently down at the younger genin. The man didn’t have a particular uniform on, just black clothes and the headband as if he’d forgotten it was there. He stepped into the hall a bit, closing the door behind him slightly as he leaned a bit down, facing Yorihi mostly with the gentle grin, “Yorihi-chan, it’s good to see you, sorry for this, but I just got Su-kun to sleep, so mind being a bit quiet?”

“Mm!” the girl immediately nodded, turning slightly to her side, addressing the bakeneko on her shoulder, “Bachi-chan, mind helping Sutego-kun sleep?” vibrant blue eyes narrowed on his Master a moment before rolling, and with an upturned snort the cat disappeared as the young girl smiled, “Hehe, thank you~” the man before her had a raised bushy brown brow which the blind girl only grinned at as she whispered to him, “Sutego-kun really likes Bachi-chan, and while he won’t admit it, he does to, so he’ll watch him as he sleeps and help out!”

The man’s bushy brows furrowed as he made something between a sigh of exasperation and relief with an exhausted smile, “Thanks Yorihi-chan, normally Mei-chan watches him, but she’s been resting up lately from her mission and I told her I’d look after him… heh,” the tan man gave an embarrassed chuckle as if believing he was doing a terrible job.

The pale girl in front of him just smiled brightly and earnestly, “mm-mm,” she shook her head, pumping her fists again excitedly, if still downplayed as they were trying to be ‘quiet’, “I’m sure you’re doing fine Jun-kun,” another earnest grin, “Sutego-kun isn’t that hard, he’s usually trying to help out…”

“Eh-heh, that’s the problem…” the older man groaned, images of the young white haired boy trying to ‘help’ around the house usually ended in some manner of disaster… none of the Gakushins could explain how that one time he’d tried using the dryer for laundry ended up with everything frozen solid. It didn’t make sense, but it was right there in front of them… none of them felt his mother needed to hear about that incident or any of the others to say the least… Jun quickly pushed the thoughts aside, leaning on his knees and just smiling at his odd little ‘cousin’, as Mei liked to call her, “So what brings you over Yorihi-chan?” the older ninja noticed the stock still teen standing behind the girl and grinned at him, “And with a friend no less?”

Uenkai merely stood at attention, not recognizing this man and feeling uncomfortable with the thought that he couldn’t place his rank. He was a shinobi obviously, thanks to the headband, but he couldn’t gauge his chakra or combat prowess as the man _appeared_ to be unarmed at the moment. His name was ‘Jun’, as Tenkyuu had stated, so he _obviously_ wasn’t the Last Assassin’s son… the boy’s father? No… maybe? He had to be much younger than the assassin, but an adult nonetheless… and why was there something familiar about his eyes, where had he seen thin black eyes like that before?

“Oh him?” Yorihi started bluntly, “He’s my new partner,” she moved out of the way enough so that Jun could get a good look at the older teen, “Kind of a jerk to be honest, but at least he’s a challenge and can help me train…”

“Haha,” Jun stood up straight, hands on his hips and seemed completely unassuming, “That’s no way to talk about your partner Yorihi-chan,” the man was grinning enough to close his eyes as he held out a tan hand, “Nice to meet you, I’m Gakushin Jun, something of Yorihi-chan here’s cousin!”

That caused a teal brow to raise. – _Gakushin?!_ \- That name was ringing a bell, but why? The older genin narrowly assessed the man in front of him, going from his hand to that disarming face. Something about it was raising the hairs on the back of his neck but he found no solid reason to deny the gesture, it was merely a courtesy after all. Reaching out a hand and grabbing the older man’s he responded with an introduction as well, “Kumori Uenkai.”

… and the moment Uenkai’s hand grabbed Jun’s he realized why he’d gotten that strange feeling… it was a _TRAP!!_ Like with the soda and Oku earlier, the kindly seeming man gripped his hand hard enough to nearly break it, all the while keeping up that disarming smile.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Jun’s grip increased as he simply kept smiling, “I hope you and Yorihi-chan get along well,” more pressure and Uenkai could feel something in his hand fracture as he looked up at the man’s face, trying to ignore the pain, as those thin black eyes opened _just_ the slightest and the teal haired teen got a good look at the deadly beast hidden behind that smile.

Uenkai could only clinch his jaw and nod his head, anything else and he’d probably scream, from the pain in his hand or the look in the older man’s eyes was anyone’s guess.

Luckily after the nod Jun immediately let go, turning towards the door and opening it, “Come on in, just remember to be a bit quite, alright?”

“Mm!” Yorihi just grinned, completely oblivious to the exchange that had occurred right in front of her, expertly making her way about the familiar apartment.

Uenkai on the other hand simply stared, not sure he wanted to venture into the lion’s den. - _No point not to…_ \- he told himself – _Only a coward would run…_ \- and he was no coward. The exchange was probably just the common courtesy for this household, size up your potential opponent, they were after all letting them into their home, right? With the brown haired man still standing there, blacks staring, the teal haired angsty teen just grunted and followed his younger partner in.

Jun smirked, shaking his head as he walk back in, closing the door behind him, “this way,” he waved a hand over his shoulder leading the two back past the den into the kitchen. The space was warm, likely from the oven being on and slightly open releasing a delicious smell of something sweet. Yorihi visibly perked up causing Uenkai to cock a brow, Jun merely chuckled at the two, “They still have some time, don’t look so eager.” At the continued skeptical look from the older boy Jun chuckled again, scratching the side of his head as he remembered he was new, “Sorry, cookies,” he pointed at Yorihi who was practically bouncing on her feet, “She really likes them.”

The blind girl merely shook her head vigorously in agreement.

“Jun,” a voice grumbled behind the trio revealing a sleepy Mei as the reddish brunette had her hair down and rubbing the sleep out of her eye, “You know better than to give her any sweets,” a wide yawn as the girl half-slept half-walked to what appeared to be a coffee maker on the counter, sleepily grabbing a mug and pouring a glass.

Yorihi of course pouted, childishly sticking her tongue out at the wall, though it was assumed it was _meant_ to be in the sleepy teen’s direction. There was a grunt from the girl getting coffee that may have been an automatic response but no one was sure. Uenkai, being confused by these people, just kept his teal brow raised.

Jun, being the oldest and probably most understanding at the moment, chuckled, waving in the male genin’s direction to get his attention, “Give her a minute, she just woke up,” there was something of a sinister snicker in the man’s black eyes as he turned them on his sister who was taking small sips of coffee while leaning on the counter, “Already drinking coffee Mei-chan,” he crossed his arms, smirk spreading across his face, “At this rate you’ll never get any taller and who knows what’ll be next…”

“Smoking like Baba,” Yorihi snickered none-too-subtly under her breath.

Thin black eyes over a coffee mug greeted her as the _slightly_ more awake girl raised her free hand to flip off her cousin-of-sorts.

A tattooed brow rose as Yorihi had to force down a snicker.

Jun had a hand covering his mouth as he leaned towards his sister, “Now who’s acting just like mom,” at the withering glare his sister sent him he just grinned, “Also you know Yorihi-chan can’t see that, so your… ‘comment’,” he raised his index fingers in air quotes, “is useless…”

The now much-more-awake genin lowered the coffee mug, enough to turn and glare harder at her brother, “Oh shut up,” immediately the coffee mug was out and pointing at the snickering blind girl, “You too!!” the result was not what Mei had wanted, instead her brother and cousin laughed more, so she moved her deadly mug of justice to the last remaining person in the kitchen, “And you!!”

“Me?!” teal eyes blinked as the boy jumped, something about the reddish brunette seeming familiar but his mind couldn’t quite place it.

“Yes, you!!” Met finished off her afternoon coffee, setting the mug next to the sink, and walking up to the boy, thin black eyes narrow on him before grabbing his wrist and heading towards the door, “You’re coming with me!!”

Brown and tattooed brows rose while Uenkai had that look about him like a deer in headlights, no idea what was going on or how to respond.

“Mei-chan?” two sets of voices asked as the two related to the girl ‘stared’ at her dragging off the odd one.

Said girl paused only a moment to give a pouting glare at the two, even if only one would technically see it, “I gotta talk to this guy, and you two are jerks,” with that so eloquently put out she dragged the male genin out with her. A few seconds later and Yorihi and Jun could hear the front door open and close.

The blind girl was the first to comment, “That was weird…”

Jun merely sighed, leaning comfortably on the counter, “Suppose she has to interrogate him too…”

A tattooed brow rose as the blind girl obviously turned to the older man, “Jun-kun?”

There was a chuckle as the man brushed a hand through his brown hair, “Sorry, I invited him in so I could get a better gauge of him, gotta make sure he’s good enough for my cousin, right!” a surprised look came over the small girl’s face that Jun found adorable, she apparently hadn’t noticed anything which was funny since she was normally so observant despite the obvious, “Don’t worry about it, he seems decent enough…”

Yorihi just shrugged, putting her hands on her hips, “Suppose he’s not all bad,” she turned towards the older shinobi, biting her lip before asking something she never would have before, “Jun-kun… do you know what it’s like to lose someone?”

A brunette brow rose as something a bit more serious entered the man’s eyes as he gave the young girl his undivided attention, “Why do you ask, Yorihi-chan?”

She rubbed her nose nervously, “It’s just…” she forced her hand down, it wasn’t right to ask such things so half-assed. Firmly the girl turned in the man’s direction, “It’s just, I’ve never observed you with a partner, and…” she couldn’t help biting her lip for a moment, “And Kumori-kun lost his partner, so I was wondering if… if…” A hand came down on her head and gently rubbed, cutting her off.

Yorihi hadn’t noticed when he’d moved, but Jun was standing near her now, hand on her head and an earnest look on his face, “It’s good you care,” he rubbed a bit harder before removing his hand, “But give him time to sort it out himself, he’ll tell you more when the time’s right…”

Immediately after he’d removed his hand a pale one had gone to try fixing the girl’s hair, not that it helped, but she stilled as she listened to his words. He wasn’t confirming or denying anything, but it was good advice nonetheless. Yorihi pouted, facing the floor, she knew she just met the guy and who knew how long they’d be partners, or if they’d even stay as such and already she was worrying about some complex stuff. – _It’d help our teamwork…_ \- she really didn’t know how to set her thoughts straight about this subject, her mind all jumbled with the thoughts but she knew Uenkai didn’t like talking about his partner, what happened, and that it messed with their training already. With a pout she deflated, shoulders lowering, “So there’s nothing I can do right now?”

“Not really,” the tan man leaned down by the oven, opening it with a toothpick in one hand and pulling the pan of cookies out enough to check if they were done. He had a grin on his face as he took the toothpick out, finding nothing and grabbed a mitt on the nearby counter to pull them out. A chuckle escaped his lips as he stared at the pan of cookies, “Being with a partner, it’s kinda like baking cookies,” he poked a few of them testing out how evenly they cooked finding most were good except a few on the edge, “It takes time to figure out and practice to get right,” he gave a solemn yet smiling look down at the girl he knew couldn’t see his expression but would pick it up in his tone, “Sometimes you burn them, sometimes you undercook them, but eventually…” he pulled one off the sheet, blowing it off as it was still quite hot before holding it out to the girl, “eventually you work it out and learn to make them just right.”

A happy earnest grin passed the young girl’s face that threatened to split it open as she reached out and took the cookie, moving it from one hand to the other a few times before getting used to the heat and blowing on it. Then she held it out, enjoying the smell, texture, and even the _sight_ of the delicious looking cookie before turning to her elder cousin, sincere grin on her face, “Thank you Jun-kun,” she held up her prize, “For the advice…” and took a bite, savoring the taste of freshly made cookies!!

Jun just chuckled again, turning around, moving the finished cookie pan to the side to cool off some more before pulling out another one, covering it in a tinfoil sheet and the batter next to him. With a smirk the older man turned to the little girl in cookie heaven, “So, you want to help me with the next batch?” the way her eyebrows rose gave him the impression her eyes were wide, that mixed with the spreading grin with crumbs on her cheeks made the scene unbelievably cute. Even more so when she shook her head vigorously, “Well alright then, this is how you do it…”

\-----

“Oof!!” the moment the two older genin made their way up to the roof, Uenkai found himself being grabbed around the collar and unceremoniously thrown against the railing. His hands gripped the rail as he nearly went over the chest high piping. With a growl the teal haired boy turned back to the reddish brunette.

Mei was simply staring with those flat thin black eyes of hers, hands on her hips and being surprisingly nonchalant and intimidating despite walking around barefoot in an old red shirt and sweat pants.

Uenkai was starting to recognize those thin black eyes as he turned around rubbing his chest, “You wouldn’t happen to be related to that crazy woman that runs the front desk at the Raikage’s tower, eh Mei?”

A surprisingly sinister grin that was a duplicate of her mother’s when she threatened Uenkai earlier came over the girl’s tan face, “My mother actually…”

An unexpected shiver ran down the teal teen’s spine, “Of course she is…” teal eyes rolled as he stood a bit straighter, rolling his shoulder towards the railing, “What was that for?”

The bored looking girl just shrugged, “Felt like it,” at the continued glared she grinned that cocky Gakushin grin, “In my opinion you deserve it,” there was a bit of a huff, “s’what you get for not contacting any of us…”

The male genin growled, scowl crossing his face, “Not like I could do much while in a coma!” there was an obvious bite in his words as his brows lowered in anger looking away.

For a moment Mei looked stunned, mouth open with no words before she shook her head and stared at him with serious eyes, “When I saw Sasayaki was listed KIA I’d thought…” the edges of her eyes crinkled, minute pain expressed but held back from being obvious, “When no one’d seen you, we all thought you’d died with her…”

“I should have,” the boy said so low and in such a hurtful growl it was hard to tell if he’d meant to say it out loud.

Those thin black eyes looked sincere, sympathizing with him for a good long second before that fire was back. With a frown the reddish brunette walked up to the boy, staring him sternly with barely a foot between them.

Uenkai looked like he wanted to say something… but he never got the chance.

**_ SLAP!! _ **

“You fucking asshole!!” the girl yelled, eyes tightly shut to prevent any tears, “How the fuck can you be gone so long and just walk back here like nothing happened!! Like nothing’s wrong!!” tan hands grabbed his shirt, so tight they were almost white as the girl seethed, “And to be my cousin’s partner no less!!” the fury and rage Mei showed with her low brows and burning red eyes almost covered up the hurt, sadness and fear behind them. She was worried, justifiably so as she raged at him, pulling him closer and growling in a low voice, “You hurt her, _let_ her get her…” red eyes burned into teal, “I. Will. Kill. You.”

For a moment Uenkai just stared, stunned by the girl’s actions. Whatever his reaction he _barely_ caught himself from falling over the rail as she shoved him again before walking away. Straightening himself the boy stared at the back of the girl’s head, for a moment it looked like her eyes had changed color… but that couldn’t be true unless she had some bloodline… but that wasn’t the most important thing. What she said… yes, he’d been threatened since walking back into the village with that crazy little girl two days ago by her family in every imaginable way, but this girl, a former classmate no less that had failed the final test… she… she had said flat out what everyone meant and was the most terrifying. She meant it, he could see that in her stance, her voice, even her eyes. If anything happened to that crazy powerhouse blind girl that was now his partner, Mei would kill him long before anyone else had the chance.

Uenkai had his hand on his chest as he just looked at Mei for the longest time, trying to remember her from class. She had gotten along with his old partner, probably were even friends, and initially it was likely _she_ would have been her partner instead… but she’d failed and went on to another semester at the Academy while they went on to be a genin. Despite his time knowing her and working with her he couldn’t remember a single instance of her being angry, Mei was typically a pleasant, hyperactive, ball of sunshine that smiled and wondered off into other people’s business. The girl standing in front of him… it may have still been there, but she had none of that left for him. His teal eyes softened, not out of any kindness but defeat, “Mei… I…”

“Save it,” the girl had crossed her arms, obvious frown on her face as she glanced at him sidelong with thin black eyes, “I mean it, you hurt her, break her heart, do anything that messes that kid up…” she faced him fully, words emphasized if much more controlled than before, “I will kill you.”

“… and no one will find the body, heh,” Teal eyes glanced to the side, frown obvious on his face as he repeated what her apparent _mother_ told him.

“There won’t be a body left to find,” he’d obviously meant it as a kind of jest or come back but Mei had responded in a flat obvious voice, again showing just how much she meant it.

Uenkai just frowned, trying not to growl at the girl, “ ‘Break her heart’ she’s a kid, what makes you think I’d ever care about her like that?”

“Sasayaki cared about you like that,” those thin black eyes bore into him deeply, watching every movement, judging every unconscious action, “I bet you didn’t even know…”

Teal brows rose in the center as the male genin tried to hold back whatever emotions his former partner brought up. He could deal with her name once, but twice… and about this… there was a buzzing in the back of his mind that he was trying to ignore and his body seemed to visibly tremble, “You have no right to talk about her…”

“I have every right to talk about her,” that intimidating Gakushin glare as Mei crossed her arms watching the boy seconds away from cracking.

“Tch,” the boy looked away, tired of the girl’s look as his entire body was tense from the sudden confrontation, “You’ve made your threats can I go now?”

Black eyes narrowed as Mei looked the boy over as if seeking some other detail, chink in his armor to exploit. She gave a low growl, turning away as well, taking several steps towards the opposite side of the roof. She didn’t want to be like her mother who got into people’s heads and really screwed them up, it would be too easy with this guy, “Whatever, just do your job this time…”

A deep frown passed Uenkai’s face as he watched the reddish brunette, angry and annoyed, not just as her words, but at his own failure being slapped in his face, “It wasn’t like that…”

A black eye glanced at him over the girl’s shoulder, obviously she was still angry as well, now that he was pressing the issue instead of leaving like he’d said.

The tan boy’s shoulders slumped as he took in a low breath, “I didn’t get a chance to protect her…” his hands were listless as they passed over the cleaver-blade at his hip with the delicate feather hanging off the end, “Because she kept protecting me…”

Mei’s eyes were still hard but she left him alone. She knew how her one-time friend had been… all the girl could do was sigh heavily, crossing her arms, “Get out of here,” she waved her hand towards the door, “And tell my brother to stop feeding Yorihi sweets… it’ll ruin her appetite.”

For a long moment teal eyes just stared at the girl, trying to decipher her stance and what she meant. This girl was different from the one he’d tangently known at the Academy, it served as another reminder that a lot changed in the year he lost. He’d made genin before her but now she was senior to him in experience, it was a strange feeling having to swallow that realization.

With a slight frown the teal haired boy gripped his partner’s blade and nodded to the rougher girl before leaving the area. Everyone had been telling him the same thing, over and over: ‘protect the Raikage’s daughter’… It was only now, he had a real reason to do, he owed his partner and those that remembered her to not screw up again. – _Thanks Mei…_ -

\-----

Anago - Conger Eel (made from kanji ‘Ana’- upset victory, underbelly of society, etc. and ‘Ko’-child, young woman, young geisha, etc. – ‘Anako’)


	3. Reluctant Warrior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that that's done with, lets me the new Sensei! But first! Company H!

The atmosphere between the new ‘partners’ was different and Yorihi didn’t know why.

It had been three days since she’d gone to see Xiao and Oku at the hospital and gotten some advice from her cousin. During that time she’d had an interesting talk with her Grandmother and Teacher, asking about what would be the best way to deal with working with someone that used different kinds of vapors and breathable toxins as a weapon. Mei, who’d overheard them, had suggested a mask, which was promptly shot down as it was too obvious and could tip off the enemy to her partner’s abilities. So her Grandmother had suggested getting another seal to filter the poison so she could breathe it without being affected. Uenkai, who had been quiet throughout the entire dinner conversation had agreed, opening the front of his shirt revealing a tattoo that looked like an intricate tribal patterning similar to Reki’s shoulder tattoo, saying it was a seal his father had given him to be able to be immune to the mists and poisons they used.

Reki had him take off his shirt so she could get a better look at the entire seal, despite Uenkai’s growling that most of the design wasn’t part of the seal. After the slight humiliation of being half naked in a room full of women, the boy had been allowed to put his shirt back on before the desk clerk grinned, making some evil comment about how ‘too bad your partner can’t see’ causing the pair to growl.

The next day Yorihi had been effectively kidnapped and dragged to probably the scariest place she’d ever visit in her entire life, and that included the Hospital with that freaky Eel woman. No, her Grandmother had taken her to Kumo’s R&D, where the sun doesn’t shine and souls could be heard being crushed.

Bachiko had remained in his ethereal form for the entire trip, not feeling safe in the place and unsure what any of the weirdos in lab coats would do to him should he reveal himself. His master had wholeheartedly agreed.

After several flights of stairs and passing several labs Yorihi willfully blanked, wishing she could shut her eyes, Reki had kicked in a door with the light printing of ‘Section F’ and bellowed loudly at the man sitting behind the desk, “I’ve got a job for you bastard!!”

It turned out the man behind the desk was none-other than Uzushio, a grayed pink brow raising as he’d been eating a reheated cup ramen when the lunatic woman had barged into his office, small girl slung under her arm. It took a second before his usual veneer reasserted itself, cup ramen miraculously disappearing as he sat pristine behind his desk, glaring with narrow purple eyes at his most loathed adversary, “And what is it?” he turned to glance at the small girl shucked like a bag of rice under the woman’s arm, “Is there some defect with the seals you had me put on her?”

Yorihi managed to wave at the man with an embarrassed and slightly terrified grin, “H-hello, Jiji…”

Despite himself, one side of the old man’s lips rose.

The moment was promptly ruined by the third occupant, “Yea, no,” she dropped the girl who after a slight ‘oof!’ quickly got back to her feet, just in time for Reki to grab her head and point her at the old man, “I need you to put this seal on her…” the black haired woman produced a slip of paper with a sketch from somewhere on her vest and handed it to the man behind the desk, “Preferably somewhere that no one else will find it,” the evil grin made the little girl shudder, afraid what her Grandmother was getting her into.

Uzushio took the paper with a mild huff, staring at the scribble for all of a second before moving to light it on fire thanks to a candle on his desk. Yorihi was the only one to slightly gasp, not understanding why he did that, as the man pushed his seat back and walked around his desk to stand in front of the two. Purple eyes glared at the evil woman for a moment before turning to look at the little girl, “The seal was a crude version of a seal we’d fashioned many years ago when we first encountered several Kiri-nin that used deadly poisons to attack but had rebreathers to keep themselves immune…”

“See,” Reki waved her hand, hitting the miffed man in the shoulder, “We’d thought that was a dumb idea since you never know when to put the damn thing on and by then it’s too late…”

“It was,” Uzushio growled at the woman, “We had several forces study their poisons, aerosols, and other means to kill us en masse and attacked them when they were vulnerable without their masks,” he crossed his arms with a growl, “Why do you think so many Kiri and Ame-nin have a penchant for wearing those rebreathers? It’s a remnant from when they attacked us and lost…”

Reki only seemed to grin, highly approving of the tactics and results.

Yorihi was slightly horrified, part of her reasoning that such a tactic was excellent in its tenacity to still affect today, but another felt horrible for the deaths and how flippantly the man she called Grandfather talked about them, “Jiji?”

Uzushio’s burning purple eyes turned to the girl’s plate-covered face and significantly softened, “I apologize if that… shocked, you, Yorihi-chan.”

The girl pursed her lips together, shaking her head slightly, knowing she was lying.

The older man sighed, crossing his arms, “May I ask why you want me to put this seal on her?”

There was a smirk on the desk clerk as she pat Yorihi’s shoulder, ignoring the girl’s slightly depressed mood, “Her partner uses aerosolized ethers and alcohols in his attacks to knock out enemies…”

A pink brow rose as the man’s hand moved to rub his thin mustache, “A Sakebi? I thought they were wiped out in the purge?”

The black haired woman shrugged, “What can I say, Company S gets results.”

Purple eyes narrowed on the woman for a moment before turning back to Yorihi, “I assume the boy has the seal you showed me,” the woman next to him nodded while the girl quirked her tattooed brows, “Makes sense, he could get quite dangerous if he becomes a master, but the draw back to their techniques is they aren’t limited in the air,” he reached out taking Yorihi’s chin gently between his forefinger and thumb, turning her face slightly this way and that before having her stare at him straight again, “Hmm… suppose there is one place I could put the seal no one would think to look…”

A black brow rose when the man continued to be quiet for more than a minute, “So going to share?”

“The roof of her mouth,” he said flatly, ignoring as the girl’s cyan tattooed brows rose high, “It’s become somewhat common to place some manner of seal on the tongue but no one can see the top of the mouth without it being extremely obvious,” those flat purple eyes turned to the devious desk clerk with arms crossed, “Would that do for your purposes?”

Reki could only grin that wide cocky grin, “When can you start?”

… And that’s how Yorihi spent several hours in the scariest place in Kumo as her Grandfather intricately ticked away a tattoo on the roof of her mouth making her virtually immune to airborne poisons. She’d gotten a firsthand test of the thing when once Uzushio-Jiji was finished he’d brought in another lab-coat wearing person to heal the area so she wouldn’t mess up the tattoo. He’d intended to put her under anesthetic… but it hadn’t worked, and she got to sit through 3 hours of what she considered her Grandparents arguing while they thought she was unconscious before the ‘doctor’ had made some comment she didn’t understand that involved a broom closet and the two effectively ‘getting it done and over with’… she didn’t know what ‘it’ was and by how red Uzushio and Reki had turned she figured it was some manner of insult as they were rather upset.

Mercifully the experience ended quickly after that and she could finally leave.

The next day she’d spared with Uenkai and hadn’t been hampered at all when he’d used his ether techniques, surprising the older boy as he had to figure out a better way to fight her without them. This of course meant attacking her cat with alcohol techniques and the less said about the results of that fight the better…

Yesterday had been relatively uneventful… except the pair had finally received their orders.

Yorihi had received the note from an admin official, running her hands along the words and reading it as much from her fingertips as she had with her hidden eyes:

“ _Due to the results of the graduation exam and the recommendation of your superiors, you, Tenkyuu Yorihi, and your assigned partner, Kumori Uenkai, have been assigned to Company H under Jounin Instructor Shibu Bushi. Report to Company H headquarters tomorrow no later than 0700.”_

Yorihi only stared at the piece of paper, the courier leaving swiftly as her brows remained flat. Bachiko had appeared on her shoulder, reading the parchment and snorting, making some comment about tact. Unconsciously she had raised her hand to pet him as her mind was still trying to accept what was right in front of her.

Was it childish of her to have hoped to be assigned an instructor she knew?

Closing her door the girl had simply sighed, getting ready to go train.

Kumori had been sitting out in the middle of the field, his own orders in front of him with a kunai in it. Idly Yorihi noticed the kunai had gone specifically through the name of their instructor. She’d wondered if that was a coincidence or on purposed, voiced simply as, “Do you know them?”

The teal haired boy seemed to snap out of his daze, looking up at her like he’d never seen a human being before.

The pale girl swallowed hard, not sure how to interpret the look on his face, “The name,” she pointed at the skewered paper in front of him, “I was wondering if you had heard of them?”

Uenkai turned back, hands holding his head slightly as he glared at the paper a moment before ripping it off the ground, practically shredding the paper, before balling it up and pulling out his kunai, “It’s my old instructor,” the older boy’s voice was low and trying to stay even as his fists balled white, “I’d hoped to be assigned someone new…”

The blind girl’s brows furrowed in the center, wanting so bad to ask more but remembered the words Jun told her, to not push him. So instead she sighed in a large huff, crossing her arms, “Would you consider it condolences if I said I’d hoped it was someone else as well?”

The boy turned back, teal eyes having some spark underneath the anger there, as if he recognized she wasn’t someone he needed to be angry at, “Like who?”

The girl frowned, fidgeting as a list easily ran through her head of those she’d rather be training under then some stranger, the one at the top obviously being her former Teacher, “Kemui-sama.”

The tips of the boy’s lips twitched before he turned facing away and running a hand through his short teal hair noncommittal, “Yea… I wouldn’t have minded that either…”

Training was quick that day, their usual spar tense and not having the normal fire as neither of them seemed fully engaged. Uenkai had been the one to call it quits, making an excuse about how they had to get ready early tomorrow for the meeting. Yorihi had only frowned, knowing that wasn’t it but having nothing to dispute him with.

She’d spent the afternoon in a slump, watching as Jun made muffins with Sutego trying to help… somehow this ended with Bachiko covered in muffin mix and the three of them having to clean the kitchen thoroughly before Kemui came to pick up her son.

On the way home Yorihi had asked her former Teacher about her new instructor, adamantly ignoring the question she truly wanted to ask, “Kemui-sama?”

The white haired assassin glanced at the small girl, her son asleep in the woman’s arms as they crossed the bridges towards the Raikage’s tower, “Yes, Yorihi-hime?”

A pale finger tapped the girl’s lip as she suppressed the urge to ask the woman why she wasn’t her instructor before biting out, “Shibu Bushi, d-do you know them?”

A thin white brow rose before the woman seemed to take a moment to think, “Yes, they were formally a member of Company F and Uenkai’s former sensei,” her grey eyes looked the small girl over, “Why do you ask?”

The girl pouted with a slight frown, resting her hands on her swords, “We got our orders; they’re to be our new sensei…” – _When it should be you…_ \- she couldn’t help thinking it and the pout grew larger.

The barest of smiles passed the white woman’s lips as she could practically read her former student’s thoughts, “Shibu-san is Uenkai’s former sensei, it was their right to retake up training him once he came out of his coma…”

The young girl growled, pout growing into a frown, “But how good are they? Are they even worth being an instructor? After what happened to Kumori-kun and his partner?!” Yorihi didn’t know what it was but she felt extremely agitated about this person, in some sense they were responsible for her new partner’s demeanor, his loss of his former partner and so much time that he now pushed himself to injury in his attempt to get back what skill he’d lost. It was their fault she was assigned to the boy in the first place!!

The assassin looked sympathetic, as much as she got, before adjusting her son to one arm and reaching out with the other to grab the girl around the shoulder. The white woman could tell she was upset, but also that there were likely childish reasons for it, reasons a shinobi of Kumo did not need clouding their judgments, “Yorihi.”

 The girl practically jumped in the woman’s grasped, “Ah-I…” her head lowered as a light bit of red dusted her cheeks under her hitae-ate, “I’m sorry…”

Kemui merely sighed lightly, removing her hand from the girl’s shoulder to support her son as she gave the girl a sympathetic glance, “It’s good to care about your partner, but what history is between them is between them, don’t be so eager to judge based on what you’ve heard,” for a moment the woman’s grey eyes unfocused as she glanced to the ground before noticing they were nearly back at the tower and the barest of smiles passed her lips, “Make your own judgments based on your own observations, understand?”

A wide innocent smile passed the girl’s face as she excitedly reached out and grabbed her Teacher around the arm nearest her, just excited to get some ‘life lessons’ from her Teacher again, “Mmh, yes Kemui-sama.”

The woman only gave the barest of sighs but not bothering to remove the girl’s hand.

\-----

Yorihi had had a fitful sleep that night. Not necessarily restless or being annoyingly ‘awake’, just fitful. She’d slept, that point made clear enough when a knock on her door woke her the next morning, just not one bit of it restful…

After being literally shocked out of her own bed, jumping due to the unusual sound and her body going into ‘attack mode’, she’d jumped a good foot off the bed, latched onto her covers, and literally ended up in a balled heap on the side furthest from the door.

This did not stop the knocking… which had evolved into pounding.

Bachiko sat rather poised and snarky on the edge of the uncovered bed as his vibrant blues stared amused down at his prone master as she wrestled helplessly with the bed covering… seemingly losing as time went on and her frustration at the knocking increased with its volume.

After about a minute of this there was some strangled yell, a burst of chakra and one **_angry_** little girl with bed head and only an oversized dark blue shirt on was nearly ripping the door off its hinges and yelling, “ ** _WHAT?!_** ”

For his part, Uenkai blinked, as several things became slowly apparent to him. One, his new partner was **_NOT_** a morning person… or at least before the sun rose, as this was the second time he’d seen her raging before light touched the mountain tips. Two, she wasn’t wearing her hitae-ate or anything covering her eyes. At first he wouldn’t have even noticed this as his eyes had become so used to staring at her cyan tattooed brows to gauge her reactions… the sudden stark contrast of there _not_ being a layer of dark blue and metal splitting her face just below her eyebrows in his peripheries threw off his sight and caused him to look further down. He noticed her eyes were flat and shut, as if despite all the movement and animation the rest of her face displayed they were utterly incapable of any manner of display. The purple scars around them he now realized her hitae-ate sufficiently covered gave him another round of pause though for that he had no idea what to think.

This was all put so eloquently as, “Uh…” as the teal haired boy blinked, hand still raised to pound further on her missing door.

Those obvious tattooed brows lowered even more, her angry morning face quite jarring with its strange area of nothing around her eyes as her scowling pout spread and he could have sworn she was growling.

He blinked again, swallowing hard and glancing down, a _slight_ heat coming over his cheeks he would completely deny, “Get dressed.”

Her response was to growl more and slam the door in his face.

In the time it took Uenkai to blink, be stunned, register what he’d just saw, and blink again, the door reopened, angry little bed haired girl replaced with his much more composed, if still angry and little, partner as she nudged the door closed, adjusting one of her arm guards and walking passed him with a gruff, “Morning to you too…”

It took a second for the older boy to shake his head, reset into normal mode and easily catch up to her brisk stride, “Least you didn’t say ‘good’,” he shoved his hands in his pockets, idly glancing at her face, relived for the normalcy of that dark blue and metal plate around her eyes.

She grunted again, checking the strap on her other arm guard, “So what’s our ETA?”

He idly cracked his neck, everything before completely forgotten, “We’ve still got an hour, long enough to eat and get there…”

A tattooed brow rose as her head nodded towards him, “You really want to eat before this thing?”

“No,” the boy said glumly, shoulders slumping as he _tried_ not to growl, “But if my last deal with a Company Commander is anything to go on, it’d be best we have something in our stomachs for the rest of the day…” _fond_ memories of Company F trickled through Uenkai’s mind, causing his shoulders to slump lower and his urge to growl deepen.

“Tch,” it was the little girl’s turn to grunt, rolling her neck and systematically moving through her arms and legs testing out the fit of her clothing, “The Commanders aren’t that bad, a little enthusiastic, but not bad…”

A teal brow rose as the boy turned to look at her, stepping out of her way as she waved one arm stretching, “You’ve never met a Commander if you’re saying that…” he groaned as she moved to brow-glare at him and he realized the folly of his words immediately. Hand to face, he groaned, “ _Aside_ from that crazy Eel woman…”

Despite herself, Yorihi snorted, “Well, Anago-Taichou is one thing, but you’re wrong,” she rolled her other shoulder, “I’ve met all the Commanders technically…”

Uenkai raised his head just enough to growl behind his hand, “Oh really?” obviously he did not believe her.

Another snort, she really did take after her demon cat when annoyed, “When I came back from training I had to participate in an exhibition match against my Uncle’s genin team…” she gestured with her hands out, palms up, and obviously annoyed, “In front of **_every_** Company Commander under my Father,” those hands went up in great annoyance, “Just to qualify to get into the Academy!!”

Despite his will, a teal brow rose high and similar colored eyes blinked, “Seriously?”

The girl growled, clinching her hands into flexing fists, “Seriously.”

That teal brow remained up, Uenkai was still unconvinced, but with what insanity he’d had to put up with by just being _around_ the little girl for the past week he was starting to just believe whatever madness she said. It was almost unheard of for the entire Enclave to be assembled outside of wartime, and even then it wasn’t required unless the most dire of circumstances. Typically, from what he’d learned in the Academy, any meetings with the Raikage between Company Commanders was just those involved, for **_ALL_** of them to be in attendance, and being an ‘official’ Enclave assembly, as in both the regular shinobi forces **_AND_** the ANBU forces was only in certain conditions:  Situations that determined the future of the Village or its imminent destruction.

But still, to have that kind of crowd just for an exhibition match…

The older boy whistled lowly, “I guess having the Raikage for a father can have its downsides…”

The girl’s hands lowered even more, her brows furrowing slightly as she had a confused pout obviously on her face, “It wasn’t that bad…” looking back, Yorihi could say she was terrified, for many reasons of that meeting, but to be honest she wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It had been her first chance to see her Father in years, and despite how cold he’d acted at first, she could tell, in his eyes, he was just as happy to see her as she was to see him. Everyone else was just everyone else. She supposed, in the end, the whole affair had just made her _less_ afraid of all the big bad people running Kumo, and instead of seeing them as faceless battle hardened shinobi, she now saw them as people, a lot of strange, creepy, and weird people, “Most of them weren’t really scary once you got used to them…”

Uenkai could only raise a brow, constantly perplexed by the girl’s flippancy to things that would normally give people fits, “Don’t suppose you remember anything about the current Commander of Company H then?”

“Mmm,” the girl had her hands balled into fist at about chest level, apparently not knowing what to do with them as she rolled her head a bit in obvious thought, “Really big, really loud, and happy?” she turned towards her partner as he gave her a disbelieving look, “Baba called him ‘Raiga’ but that may have been a nickname,” her head tilted the other way, seemingly talking to herself, “He did seem like a big liger…”

Teal brow rose even higher, though this time extremely skeptical and wondering what the hell the girl was going on about.

Suddenly she shifted, turning towards him with a minute frown, obviously serious, “So are you ready?”

“Tch,” the older genin rolled his shoulder, “As well as I can be,” he barely missed the small smirk that picked at the girl’s lips as he strolled on ahead of her trying to act cool, “Now c’mon, I wanna get out of this tower before that crazy woman you call ‘grandmother’ gets on duty…” he had **_not_ ** forgotten the indignity that woman put him through!!

Yorihi raised a hand, pitifully _trying_ to hide her giggling smirk as she trotted after the boy, suddenly very excited for the rest of the day.

\-----

The headquarters for Company H was effectively a cut out shack tucked away inside a cave at the top of a mountain peak on the west side of the village. The place was hard to find as it didn’t face the village, apparently being a cut in cave on one of the higher peaks with a crumbling rocky path barely distinguishable from the mountainside as the only way to get to it. The place wasn’t _exactly_ hard to get to, if one were a shinobi, it was just hard to believe it was there at all…

While the two were hugging the wall and side-sliding up the narrow path, Uenkai had commented while looking down, “I’m starting to think you were right about the liger thing…”

“Ya think?” Yorihi replied dryly, feeling along the wall in front of her and finding the edge, _finally_ , meaning they’d found the infamous ‘Liger’s den’. She gripped tightly onto the edge, turning back just enough to grab Uenkai’s hand on her other side and without a word toss the boy around, into the cave opening where he pulled her in and the two rolled, landing in battle ready positions, him with his cleaver sword out in a two handed guard hold and her with her beat rods extended and ready for a fight.

They were greeted with a rather familiar, to Yorihi, boisterously loud laugh, “BWAHAHAHAHA!! Look at that!!” of the small gathered crowd a ridiculously large man with dark skin, light scars all about looking like strips, and salt and pepper hair pushed about four people on both sides just to widely laugh and grin with chipped fangs at the two genin that had made something of a theatrical entrance. The giant liger of a man cracked his knuckles loudly as he approached, his footsteps easily echoing in the cave around them, “Been awhile chibi-oni, got any better?”

“Chibi-oni?” a teal brow rose as the boy glanced at his partner.

“Shut up,” she growled at him, standing as tall and firm as she could in front of the monstrously large man, weapons at the ready if held firmly at her sides, “Raiga-Taichou,” she gave an acknowledging nod to the large man, who only bellowed a laugh again which she _tried_ not to smirk at, “I believe it’s up to you to determine if I’ve gotten any better…”

“Bwahaha!!” his monstrous hand came down and pat the girl on the back, knocking her over but the big lug didn’t seem to notice, “Man you really are Reki’s grandkid aren’t you!! Callin’ me that too!!”

There was a _discreet_ cough, drawing attention to a woman standing behind the large brute, with a clipboard in hand and pushing up the side of her thin glasses, “It doesn’t do well to break the new recruits on the first day, Taichou…”

“Oh hush,” the large man huffed, waving behind him and ignoring his assistant, turning back to the two newbies as the teal haired boy pulled the little oni up, even if she was growling the whole time, “Ignore her, she always was uptight, dunno where she got it from…” there was a moment of thought from the big man, scratching his scruffy beard before putting his knuckles on his hips and laughing again, “Cause it certainly wasn’t from me!! BWAHAHAHA!!”

“Hmp!” there was a miffed grunt from the woman in glasses.

Two sets of eyebrows rose as the genin just tried to understand what was going on in front of them. The woman, now that the two of them bothered to look, was one of several others present, though she seemed to have the most authority seeing as she could easily talk down to the Commander. She had dark skin, not as dark as the Commander’s, with icy eyes so pale it was hard to tell if they were grey or blue, probably both, with pale hair in a braid that seemed to be caught between grey and light orange. The two genin looked at the miffed woman with the glasses and clipboard to the huge openly laughing Liger-Commander.

Uenkai, despite himself, leaned slightly towards Yorihi and whispered, “Do you think they’re related?”

The ‘blind’ girl could only shrug. She remembered similar comments from the huge Commander about the Minx woman that ran Company S… and she’d had tan skin, light eyes and sherbet orange hair… a tattooed brow rose as she gave an unconscious shrug, not bothering to regulate her volume, “Maybe?”

“Oi!!” a very loud, very close, voice bellowed at the two and they noticed the huge Liger was suddenly next to them, crouched down and staring at them directly with his own icy blue eyes, “What’re you two mumbling about!!”

“I wasn’t mumbling,” was Yorihi’s immediately response, along with a pouting frown as Uenkai’s hand promptly met his face. The little girl crossed her arms, seemingly looking ‘down’ on the man about five times her size, “We were just wondering if your assistant,” she pointed with one hand to the woman in glasses, “Was related to you because of what you said…”

“Hm, her?” he stood straighter with his knuckles on his  hips, blinked at the woman who only seemed to flatly glare at him, before turning back to the little oni with a wide chipped grin, “Yea, that’s my oldest, for some reason thinks she needs to watch her old man, Bwahaha!!”

The woman just growled, pushing up her glasses and probably suppressing the urge to do something violent, “Without mom around, _someone_ has to keep you in your place…”

The large old liger just laughed, “Bwahaha!! And that’s what I loved about her!!” he gestured with his thumb towards his chest, standing proud, “Only one to keep this old cat in line!!”

It suddenly sounded like several hands met face along with appropriate groaning.

“But enough about that!!” suddenly there was a large hand pointing in Yorihi’s face, the girl didn’t flinch and the large Commander just grinned wider, “I’m the one that won the lots and got you in my Company, Chibi-Oni!!”

“Lots?” a tattooed brow went up with the girl’s flat voice, not that anyone was paying attention.

“So…!!” the large liger of a man pumped his fists, flexing so much as to strain his vest and many were certain if he were wearing a shirt it would have exploded off him, “That means it’s up to me and my crew to turn you into the best damn hunter around!!”

“Hunter?” this time both Uenkai and Yorihi quipped flatly, again everyone else seemingly ignoring them.

“For we!!” more flexing, “Are!!” there was a sudden shift as several of the other shinobi present seemed to stomp, fists pumping, “Hunters!!” there seemed to be some choreographed posing, causing brows to rise, “Of!!” and with one mighty heave, there were suddenly missing shirts, sparkles, and everyone in some manner of manly posing surrounding the utterly **_glorious_ ** master of posing, manly, awesome that was Raiga in the center, “Kumo!!”

“URAH!!” the crowd uniformly shouted.

The Raikage’s daughter was stuck with her mouth just gapping, not sure what the hell she just saw and not sure how to explain that to her partner.

Luckily he was just as stunned, staring agape before gaining enough faculty to state bluntly, “I’d like to go back to Company F now…”

“Try growing up with that,” was the flat voice of the older woman with the pale orange hair as she stood next to the two new recruits with a blank look.

The two genin turned to stare at her; obviously desperate to get passed what horror they’d just seen or felt and get back to some sense of normalcy.

The woman’s icy eyes just glanced at them, her flat look not changing a bit as she pushed up her thin glasses, “Seeing as the Commander is _busy_ ,” she shot a deadly look at the Company and its Commander powerful enough to shatter their posing and sparkles, then turned back to the two, “I will give you the standard introduction…”

Wordlessly the two pointed at the shambled remains of the theatric posing.

Eyes closed and pushing up her glasses, “Ignore that,” the woman cleared her throat and bowed respectfully to the two new recruits, “Due to your skills and performance you both have been selected to join Company H,” she stood straight, looking down at the two seriously, “This means you are official shinobi of Kumo, you have the responsibility to carrying out the orders given you promptly and satisfactorily, is that clear.”

The two genin snapped to attention, “Yes, Ma’am!”

She pushed up her glasses, giving a slight nod, “Despite the… _eccentricity_ ,” another glare shot to the crowd who were gathering their shirts, “This is a professional Company, and by that I mean we care about the work done, not the small bullshit details such as formalities and uniforms…”

Teal and tattooed brows rose.

“She’s right,” the large liger seemed to lose all the silliness from a few moments ago to speak lowly at the two. There was a growl in his voice and his icy blue eyes were scanning them like a predator, “I don’t give a damn _how_ you go about your work, so long as you get it done and move on to the next target, understood.”

“Yes sir!” again the two genin promptly stood at attention and nodded in unison.

“Very well,” the large man crossed his arms, his sudden seriousness scary in many ways, “Welcome to Company H, Kumo’s Hunter squad,” his white and black mane shifted to Uenkai, “You, boy.”

The teal haired teen stood straight, staring his new Commander directly in the face, “Yes, sir.”

A _small_ smirk picked at the man’s lips, “You’re from Company F, right?”

“Yes,” Uenkai gave a firm nod.

“Good,” there was a low growl in the man’s voice as he looked between the two genin, “That means you already have down half the skills you’ll need for this Company; you know how to track and find things.” The boy nodded and the large liger turned his attention to the little girl, “Despite you being the newest here, I’ve seen you in action and I have detailed reports from the Masters on the abilities you’ve shown, especially how despite lacking one sense you’ve adapted and developed other ways around it, enhancing your already formidable senses giving you a natural edge as a tracker.”

The girl nodded, not wanting to mention that her senses were already primed for tracking and hunting without her sight thanks to her training in the mountains. – _Thanks to Tougemichi I’m probably a better tracker in the absolute darkness of the caves than anyone here…_ \- she’d had to hunt to both survive and beat the old blind assassin’s tests. Perhaps this Company of ‘hunters’ _was_ the best place for her.

The old liger just grinned, looking between the two, “Now the both of you just need to learn to capture your prey,” he lowered his hands to his hips and flashed his chipped fangs at the two, “Man I wish I was lucky enough to get to train you two, Bwahaha!!”

“hmp,” the woman at his side pushed up her glasses, “As if you have the time to be overseeing a genin team, _Taichou_ …”

The man grunted, huffing in an almost pout, before turning back to the two, “Get a look around the headquarters quickly then head out to find your instructor,” he waved his hand, “Dismissed.”

The two genin gave a respectful nod, acknowledging the order as the man turned to go back into the shack that was their headquarters. Yorihi was frowning, annoyed that that was it, “So we don’t even get a hint to where our instructor is?”

The big liger pause halfway to the headquarters door, a grin spreading on his face that he had to suppress before he turned enough to laugh at the girl, “Ha! Chibi-Oni, if you can’t find them with no information given,” he turned back to the door, smirk fully forming as he waved them off over his shoulders, “Then you’re in the wrong Company, Bwahahaha!!”

The blind girl just frowned, annoyed as she and her partner watched the man enter the shack. She snorted like her cat and turned to her partner, “Should we waste our time checking out the headquarters?”

Teal eyes were examining the exterior of the shabby looking building as the boy crossed his arms, “No point,” he turned to look at her, “You already have the layout felt out right?”

The girl gave a curt nod, resting hands on her swords, “The shack is just a front, there’s an elevator in the back behind the bar, it goes down about two flights and the interior of the base is only about six large rooms; barracks, dining hall, information vault, assembly, sparing room and the Commander’s office.”

The woman with the clipboard and glasses raised a light orange brow as she watched the two, “Impressive, you got the entire layout without even entering the building?”

Yorihi turned to the woman and raised her hand, showing her palm, “I could feel the layout with all the shouting and stomping they were doing during the Commander’s little performance.”

The woman had the barest of impressed grins, “And I had thought my father’s little show was useless, seems even he gets it right on occasion.”

The younger girl couldn’t help the slight grin, “So there was a reason for all that?”

“Hmp,” the woman pushed up her glasses, “he would have done it anyway, the others just like the small moment of insanity.” She turned towards the headquarters door, shooing some of the other members loitering about, “When you’re finished with your mission, feel free to come and go as you please, the Commander often has spare jobs posted for anyone hanging around…”

The grin spread on Yorihi’s face as she watched the woman go, enjoying that her _slight_ fib was believable. She hadn’t just ‘felt out’ the lay out, she’d pushed her eyes to get the more specific details, not that anyone else needed to know. The girl’s plate-covered eyes turned to the boy musing next to her, “I think she likes us.”

“Hmp,” the teal haired boy frowned, opening his eyes and seeming to snap out of his thoughts, “Doesn’t matter if she likes us, so long as we get our job done, remember.”

Hidden white eyes rolled and Yorihi could feel Bachiko sniping in the back of her mind, “Yes Commander Kumori-kun, whatever you say Commander Kumori-kun,” the girl flatly said as she walked towards the exit of the cutout cave. Some part of her enjoyed the boy fuming behind her before he forced himself to follow, “So any ideas where your former instructor would be hiding?”

With a frown like he had a bad taste in his mouth and crossing his arms as they made it to the edge of the cave, “Yea, I’ve got an idea,” he cracked his neck, looking serious, “Let’s go.”

\-----

It took them a little while but the genin pair made it to their destination. Uenkai had led the way through the village and towards the opposite east side, through several training grounds until they ended up at the base of a waterfall. Yorihi had quirked a brow, not wanting to ruin the ‘nice’ silence that had set in between them since they left Company H headquarters, but she couldn’t help but stare at the out of place waterfall up in the mountains.

“Seriously?” her voice was flat, the rumbling and loud nature of the falls making her a bit twitchy.

“Hmph,” was the only response the boy gave… before running and jumping onto the side wall next to the thundering rushing water and making his way up towards the precipice.

Yorihi had remained at the base for a good minute, simply ‘brow’-glaring at what was in front of her before throwing her hands up in the air with a frustrated groan. This wild goose chase of a day was throwing her off and she got the distinct feeling it was only going to get worse once they actually found their sensei. Reluctantly, and with a groan, the girl jumped onto the wall below her partner and using her speed and strength to quickly ‘hop’ up the side of the mountain more so then simply running vertically.

The two made it to the top at relatively the same time, both leaping over the cusp and landing several feet from the edge. Yorihi had landed tense, ready for some manner of attack… so she was rather surprised to find the area around the top of the waterfall to be something of a small oasis. In the peaks of Kumo it was practically unheard of for trees to grow, let alone grass, as typically the only thing that could stand the low oxygen, cold and rocky environment were lichens and only the most persistent of weeds.  So she literally dropped all pretense of combat as her circular vision took in the absolute surprise of a small patch of forest on one of the higher peaks of Kumo.

“Whoa…” the blind girl was speechless by the sudden sound of rustling leaves and birds.

“It’s rude to stare,” came a neutral voice some feet away. When Yorihi focused her senses on the person, pushing back her surprise at the verdant field, she found someone of average height, their back to the two genin, with a dark blue turtleneck, a cream colored jounin vest warped over their left shoulder with a plain looking black katana attached to the other shoulder. They turned slightly, apparently watering plants with a handheld pail, giving her a better view of the banded arm and leg guards, their turtleneck had no sleeves and there was a wrap under the arm guards that went over their elbows. They had a pale bandana wrapped around their head, likely their hitae-ate and from what little she could see small tuffs of bluish platinum hair coming out in front of their ears and below the bandana.

The person finally decided to turn around and face the two, showing rather bored looking dark eyes as they raised a thin brow, “Hrm…”

Yorihi’s own tattooed brows lowered slightly, getting the feeling those bored eyes were staring at her, specifically her hitae-ate covering her eyes.

Those dark eyes just continued to stare for a moment before turning to Uenkai, continuing in a completely flat voice, “So this is Sasayaki’s replacement?”

Uenkai didn’t do anything for the longest time, just staring at his former teacher but Yorihi could feel the muscles in his jaw tighten and his hand by his sword form a tight fist. Teal eyes closed as he gained a rather punkish look, “Tch, she’d not a replacement,” his eyes opened in a tight sliver as he tried not to so openly glare at his former sensei, “I was reassigned to her team, not the other way around.”

It didn’t take telescopic x-ray vision to see the jounin’s jaw tighten.

Yorihi herself was rather confused by the exchange. – _Kumori-kun?_ \- he’d been a hostile, annoying jerk since she met him but they’d managed some manner of ‘understanding’ or at least getting through a day without killing one another. She didn’t think they were close, acquaintances was stretching it, but they were assigned to work together and both of them had been professional enough to accept that and try to work to ‘get along’ as much as necessary. So it was strange to her to hear him rebuttal his former teacher over something as silly as semantics. Okay, even she would admit the light dismissal of her as _merely_ a replacement irked her, slightly, but she would have just ignored it… mostly, and the moody older boy saying the other way around was… nice? She guessed.

The jounin didn’t seem to visibly care, though it was obvious they were quite annoyed, “My team, my say,” they flippantly pointed at the blind girl, probably assuming she couldn’t see or notice the gesture, “She’s just a replacement until you get back on your feet.”

Yorihi had to bite her tongue not to growl; already she didn’t like this person one bit.

“Whatever,” the boy spoke, rolling his shoulder and looking to the side, “So you going to give us our assignment or are we done for today?”

The smallest frown picked at the jounin’s face, thought it was hard to tell with how flat it was, before they reached behind their back, pulling out a scroll and tossing it toward Uenkai, “a standard Search and Retrieve mission, C rank, basic pay, the two of you should be able to complete it within the week.”

Teal eyes glared flatly for a moment at their flippant instructor before opening the scroll and skimming the details. The dark skinned boy frowned, teal brow furrowing in the center, “a week for a mission in a village two days away?”

The bluish platinum haired jounin just shrugged, turning back to watering the various plants in the oasis above the waterfall, “You had a year’s worth of experience in Company F, you’ll know how to find what you’re looking for,” they waved their hand behind their back, “Teach her a thing or two while you’re at it, but the mission takes priority, find it, grab it, and get back here. Dismissed.”

The older boy growled, crumbling the scroll in his hand before standing at attention and giving a confirming nod, then did a perfect heel-turn and practically stomped to the edge before jumping off.

A tattooed brow quirked, not sure how to interpret that. In the week that she’d known the boy she certainly hadn’t seen him that angry before.

“You, replacement,” their instructor waved over their shoulder but didn’t bother turning.

“Yes,” Yorihi had to keep her voice even as she turned to face them, not sure what they planned to do.

“I’ll say this once,” they moved slightly to water more flowers, “I’m not here to babysit you, hold your hand, or teach you the basics, you should know that since you graduated from the Academy…”

Yorihi could only frown at their tone, holding back just enough to hear everything they had to say before deciding if it was worth talking back.

“I don’t care who you are or what you think you are capable of,” they held the pail straight, apparently out of water as they turned around and glared sharply at the girl they probably assumed couldn’t see their threat, “You’re only on this team as long as he needs to recover and not a day more, so don’t expect me to pay you any mind, understand?”

Tattooed brows lowered, “Perfectly,” she turned heel and boldly walked away from the arrogant jounin, deciding they weren’t worth it. Obviously her new ‘sensei’ hadn’t read her file or didn’t care, both were reason enough for her to not give a single damn about their opinion. She jumped off the ledge same as her partner did, starting to understand somewhat why he’d been so reluctant to work with this person again. “Shibu-sensei… hmp,” already the name had a bad taste in her mouth.

\-----

The two quickly acquired their gear and while Yorihi wanted to say her farewells to her family Uenkai had insisted they move out as quickly as possible. The girl had managed to wave a short farewell to her grandmother, the black haired smoker smirking as she waved back, seemingly knowing the girl’s issues and what she was off to do before even she did. It brought a small smile to the young girl’s face, knowing at least someone knew and she trusted the odd older woman to inform anyone else of consequence, namely her Father and Teacher so they wouldn’t worry about her absence.

She met up with her partner on one of the platforms close to the main gate and as the two headed out someone stood in their way.

“Nee-chan?” a cyan tattooed brow rose as the two genin turned to the blonde woman

The Nibi container had a smirk on her face that would put her prisoner to shame as she quickly erased the distance between herself and the small girl, wrapping her arms around and lifting her off the ground, “You be safe.”

Yorihi was sufficiently stunned for a moment before a tingling seemed to register in her fingertips and she realized she was reaching around the woman, returning the hug, nodding into her shoulder, “Mm, I will, Nee-chan.”

Yugito gave her one last squeeze before putting her down, sniffing as she wiped her eyes and looked at the little girl that had grown so much since the first time she’d seen her, “I’ll tell your parents you went on a mission, so don’t worry about it.”

Yorihi just raised a brow, tilting her head, seemingly oblivious to the older woman’s words, “Baba already had it handled,” then she scratched the side of her cheek, somewhat thankfully embarrassed, “Thanks though, Nee-chan.”

The blonde cat just grinned, nearly threatening to lean down and snatch the girl up again.

Next to the two bonding females Uenkai had turned away, feeling somewhat out of place.

“Hey, man,” suddenly there was a pale hand in front of his face and following it up he came face to face with that weird boy from the hospital with his stupid plated hat.

A teal brow rose as Uenkai stared at the boy, then his hand and back, not sure what to do, “What are you doing here?”

The younger boy just gave an embarrassed cheeky grin, “Well I was training with my new sensei,” he pointed over his shoulder with his thumb towards the blonde woman, “When she came over here and scooped up Yorihi-hime,” his grin spread somewhat as she scratched the back of his head, “Xiao-chan’s still on ordered bed rest, else she’d be here, so I’m getting used to Yorihi-hime’s aunt, we should have our first mission in a few days…”

That skeptical brow remained up as the two idly glanced at the two women. Uenkai frowned, turning away, “Still doesn’t explain why you’re over here…”

Oku’s grin just spread as he waved his hand, still out and waiting, “Well, she’s got her aunt telling her off, so…” the older male genin seemed to finally lock eyes with the younger and Oku’s closed eyed grin became more genuine, “I’m here to say ‘watch yourself, man’ and come back.”

Something seemed to finally click in Uenkai’s head, this kid was genuine and not trying to lead him into another trap, he hoped, so he reached out and took his hand, shaking it, “Heh, it’s not that serious a mission…”

The pale boy grinned, “Hey, ya never know…” he brought him into a manly hug, freaking Uenkai out slightly, “Be safe, and watch over her,” he held him out at his shoulders, chuckling, “she’s kinda excitable…”

Teal eyes rolled as the older boy smacked the boy’s hands away, more joking then seriously, “Yea, like I haven’t noticed…”

Oku just grinned, taking the cue to step back and rejoin his new Sensei, waving at his friend and just knowing she knew what he meant.

Yugito momentarily eyed her new student, the boy grinning the stupidly cute grin she was starting to understand from all those times Yorihi complained and the boy she’d only _mildly_ threatened if he didn’t take care of her niece. Bringing her iron black eyes back to the little ‘blind’ girl she couldn’t help but stare for a moment longer than necessary. It wasn’t _really_ all that long ago she herself was a wayward teenager starting her own missions with a team of older guys, sure her missions started off a bit more dangerous and higher ranking for obvious reasons, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t relate to the little girl in front of her. Yugito was one of the few that new her as a little kid, she’d watched the Raikage’s daughter grow up, sure she wasn’t like most of the village and knew she was adopted, but that didn’t make the girl any less family to her, after all Yugito was practically adopted as well by the weirdos that ran Kumo. This was their home, born here or not, it was where they ‘grew up’ and now her little niece, originally her little sister, was old enough and strong enough to go out on her own missions and start giving back to the Village that had claimed them as its own.

With one last grin the cat woman reached out and ruffled her niece’s blue-black mane, eliciting a growl, and continued, “Go on, get out of here and come home quickly.”

Yorihi blushed lightly, pushing the older woman’s hand off her head and grumbling away from her. There was a mumbled, “Of course,” as she walked past her friend and family, knowing they’d heard it.

The boys traded nods as Uenkai passed, the feline Jinchuuriki giving him a _light_ glare as her only warning, but obviously not wishing him any undeserved harm. Uenkai could feel a heat rising up under his collar as he passed the two by, he couldn’t remember the last time anyone ‘sent him off’, so used to merely grabbing his stuff and leaving the village as quickly as possible to get his mission done. This was new, it was weird, and he wasn’t sure he completely disliked it…

Knowing the two and possibly others were seeing off his partner and tangently him as well. As the two walked towards the large gate of the Village Hidden in the Clouds, he waved his hand back over his shoulder, part of him afraid to look back and whether or not it was reciprocated.

Yorihi, from her further along position and using her hidden white eyes could see the exchange, as well as Yugito’s catlike smirk and Oku’s enthusiastic wave. She smirked, happier than she realized for the small exchange.

\-----

Their first mission was pretty simple; go to the village, find the item they were told to seek out, a scroll on some techniques from a clan that once lived in Rai no Kuni, retrieve it and return to Kumo. As Uenkai had predicted it had taken them two days to get to the small village where Intel told them the scroll was last seen. He had suggested looking around and questioning the populace… Yorihi had snorted, telling him to hand her the mission scroll and after five minutes of running her fingers along the text she set off in a specific direction, kicked down the door to someone’s house, ignoring the occupants, lifted up several floorboards in the kitchen and revealed the hidden scroll. The owners of the house were some of the last remnants of the long gone clan, none of them even knowing the scroll was there since they were only descendants of the clan and not actual shinobi. The arrogant little girl had taken the scroll with little protest from the house owners. ‘Little’ meaning the patriarch had attempted to tackle her, rightfully, and she’d thrown him through five walls… walking out with the scroll and no further protest.

Uenkai had rightfully face palmed, telling the girl on their way back, “Next time, try stealth…” she’d again given that dismissive snort but didn’t argue. Their mission was done and they quickly made their way back to the Village.

Shibu Bushi had barely quirked a brow when it was the little ‘blind’ girl that had thrown the scroll down at their feet two days later. The bluish platinum haired jounin had bent to retrieve the scroll, scanned it for authenticity, before putting it in their vest to be handed over to R&D properly later. Those dismissive dark eyes had scanned the two genin, neither looking particularly pleased, before they turned to Uenkai and handed him another mission scroll.

Yorihi had growled, Uenkai had huffed taking the scroll, and off they went on another retrieval mission. This was how the two spent much of their first few months as genin, or Yorihi’s first few and Uenkai’s recovering few. After about the fourth mission the two realized it didn’t matter when they got their mission done, just that if they bothered to turn them into their instructor they’d get a placid look and another mission, so they started taking their time. They didn’t take their time in completing their missions, just reporting back to Shibu-sensei, as the reluctant teacher didn’t seem to care when they ‘really’ got their work done so long as it was within their time frame. So the two would get a mission, compete to see how quickly and efficiently they could get it done, make it back to the Village with two to three days to spare; one spent on recovery and the rest on training, before turning their mission in on time to their instructor and getting another mission. 

At first Yorihi had thought their instructor was doing this out of laziness, not caring about their students’ time or the Village’s demands with these missions, but one day when they were handing in another one; a weapon from a band of roving bandits, the blind girl couldn’t help but notice their instructor give the barest of grins, commenting how ‘fresh and well maintained’ the two looked despite only _just_ turning their target acquisition in. It was at this point the young Raikage’s daughter _knew_ their sensei knew they’d been off doing their own training between missions and had allowed this. It taught Yorihi two things; their sensei was more perceptive and intelligent then she’d previously thought and they were actually training them in some strange backhanded sense… it reminded her of Tougemichi.

Where the old blind assassin had openly questioned her on her tactics she’d use in the caves and frustrate her to no end, this new sensei, Shibu was teaching them in an extremely hands-off fashion. The jounin was seeing what the genin would do when presented a ‘problem’, how they handled it, and what their priorities were. Obviously they must have approved in some sense that the two genin spent most of their time training outside of missions and were completing their trivial retrievals faster and faster.

Yorihi got confirmation of this when they handed in their latest mission.

The blind girl handed over the scroll to the platinum bluish haired Jounin who actually looked her over with this strange look the young genin couldn’t quite identify.

Shibu unraveled the scroll, checking the contents of the seal before rewrapping it and putting it in their vest for delivery later. That’s when the Jounin put their hands behind their back and stared down at the two genin standing in front of them, waiting for their next mission.

“You’ve done well,” broke the usual silence.

A tattooed brow rose the slightest but the blind girl didn’t verbally respond, neither did her partner who merely narrowed his teal eyes.

“The time for kiddie missions is over,” those flat dark eyes gazed over the two, “I’ve gauged your skills, you’re both ready to take on real missions.”

Those cyan tattooed brows furrowed as the blind girl tightened her grip on one of her swords, “What kind of missions?”

Shibu turned just enough to look at the girl, obviously recognizing her presence but not much more, “Hunter missions,” the jounin turned to look at them both, “These missions I’ve been giving you are trivial retrieval missions, the kind you would find in Company F or G, for real Hunt missions there’s a stipulation,” they held up their hand, one finger pointing up, “Capture.”

The genin’s brows furrowed more, but it was Uenkai that looked more wary, “What do you mean capture?”

For the first time the slightest smirk crossed the odd jounin’s lips, “To be a hunter you must bring back prey, dead or a alive doesn’t matter, for now,” they put their hand down, reaching into their back pouch and producing another scroll and tossing it at Uenkai, “For this mission and those to come you cannot complete it without bringing back something of value from your opponents, is that understood?”

The teal haired boy caught the mission scroll tentatively, not opening it immediately like normal, “Something of value?”

“Their head, a body, a body part,” the jounin waved their hand flippantly as they turned to examine the flowers of the area around them, “A hunter does not simply get their target, they bring back what can be used, what can be ‘fed’ to the village…”

Uenkai opened his mouth as if to respond, but a hand was put in front of him making him stop.

“Understood, Sensei,” Yorihi’s voice was low and flat, something far different about it compared to how either the jounin or her partner had heard before.

Shibu glanced back at the girl, that single motion their only recognition of her change.

Uenkai stared at his partner, they’d worked together for the past few months on what amounted to fetch errands and he’d never heard her voice sound that cold, “Tenkyuu…?”

“Let’s go,” the blind girl had turned quickly, heading towards the waterfall, “The sooner we’re done the sooner we can go back to training…”

“Normally, when you tell a genin they have to kill someone,” the bored voice of their instructor called back to the two genin, their backs to each other but the silence making the jounin’s voice crystal clear, “They shake and quiver at the prospect, whatever bravado they have dissipates as they’re faced with the reality of this world,” for a moment the jounin glanced back with dark eyes to the small blind girl, “I don’t see you quivering or shaking girl…”

“Not all genin are the same,” was her rough response before the girl jumped over the ledge, leaving the older genin and jounin instructor alone.

Once again Uenkai was surprised by his younger partner as he stared the way she’d gone.

“That, Uenkai,” the normally so bored jounin’s voice had a different sound to it, one of interest and something else, “is the response a real killer gives,” their nearly covered brows furrowed as they glared at the boy, “Not mouth open with no words to say…”

The teal haired teen frowned, clinching his fists at his sides before leaving without a word.

\-----

The mission was another retrieval mission, the only technical difference was that it was in a boarder country instead of in Rai no Kuni and their target was in a bandit stronghold. The two genin had gotten close enough to the place to scout it out, Yorihi could easily feel out several levels underneath the obvious bandit camp on top and Uenkai agreed that this didn’t have the normal vibe of a regular group of thugs. They were too organized and with them using what might have been an abandoned base as their hideout and stash was awfully suspicious. The two agreed that there was likely a Nuke-nin as their leader and decided to wait a day and observe. Yorihi sent her demon cat to spy on the place, his ethereal form good for this kind of thing and it was a good chance for the young girl and bakeneko to test out the range on their bond.

While the invisible ghostly feline scouted the base the two genin made a rudimentary camp nearby, waiting for the right time to slip in and obtain their target.

Yorihi sat against a tree as close to the base as she could get, wanting to give Bachiko as much leeway as possible. It was strange, feeling his chakra tugging and pulling her own the further he went but she didn’t let it fully distract her, it was just a strange feeling in the back of her mind, like when he made his comments. She felt the area around them, skimming on the walls of the bandit camp catching a sentry or two, but if she was being honest with herself most of her attention was on her partner.

Kumori Uenkai hadn’t changed much in the few months they’d been working together, he may have gotten a bit taller and more muscular due to their intense training between missions but he still looked and acted the same as the day she met him; self-assured and like he was in charge.

That was actually what had been bothering her the whole time they’d been traveling to this base; Kumori had been quiet. She had expected him to give his curt orders like normal when they got to the base, hell when they’d left even, but instead he’d been quiet and brooding over something. The blind girl had an idea what it was but even she had been pushing that to the side, she’d gotten excellent at ‘compartmentalizing’ as many in her family called it, especially on missions. When on a mission, the mission was the most important thing next to watching Kumori’s back and ensuring they survived, nothing else really mattered, not even the details. The fact this mission had a new ‘stipulation’ didn’t bother her mission-self, it was just something else to tick off before they went back home. Part of her that wasn’t entirely mission-oriented wondered if there was something wrong with that kind of response.

Hidden white eyes focused on her teammate, he was sitting with his back to the tree next to her, leaning on his cleaver-sword with a scowl on his face that normally told her he was battle-ready. Instead he looked tense, his thoughts somewhere else.

Without thinking she spoke lowly, “We don’t have to do anything.”

It was harder to see in the darkness but she felt him glance towards her then return to his brooding position, “it’s part of the mission…”

“Screw the mission,” she said swiftly and meant it. Their mission was to get some plant these bandits were using to make a particularly nasty poison; it didn’t ‘officially’ say anywhere in the scroll ‘bring back a body’.

An edge picked up on his lips, “What would Kemui-sama say if she heard you say that?”

The younger girl smirked as well in the darkness, “She’d tell me that was completely unladylike…” her voice lowered as she spoke a bit more serious, “But agree with me.”

This time Uenkai turned enough towards her she didn’t have to rely on her sense of touch, “The Last Assassin would agree with you about abandoning a mission?”

The younger girl gave a very muted shrug, “I didn’t say ‘abandon’, just that killing and-or taking a body back to the village isn’t top priority or required,” her tattooed brows lowered and while she knew he couldn’t see the gesture she hoped the older boy could hear it in her voice, “What matters is we get back home.” Her Teacher had always stressed ‘ _priorities_ ’ to the young girl and she’d never truly given it much thought until being on missions out in the real world. Completing the mission was important, surviving was just more important.

A heavy silence came between the pair, both thinking on the girl’s last words though for different reasons.

“I’ll do it,” a dark hand gripped on the long handle as teal eyes stared at the ground.

“You don’t have to,” was the girl’s immediate response.

Uenkai’s gripped tightened enough to be heard and she could feel the tension in his jaw as he spoke, “I’ve already…” his teeth clinched as he choked on the word until he force it out, “I’ve already… killed… before… s-so you don’t have to worry about…” the words died before he could even think them, not sure what he was saying.

Yorihi was unusually calm, “You don’t sound like it.” It was an observation; she said it lowly and with little inflection hoping to not offend the older boy. The subject seemed to bother him whether he wanted to admit it or not.

“I have.” His words sounded somewhere between a bold statement and a plea.

Again, the heavy silence settled between them a moment.

Yorihi debated with herself what to do or say; quietly listening in to the little tugs and pulls at her consciousness from her feline companion. He wasn’t here to help or guide her in this situation and while she was in ‘mission mode’ trying to keep that the priority in her mind… she couldn’t help wondering.

“What happened?” the voice that asked the question was so soft, so low, the younger girl was surprised it’d come from her.

What was more surprising was she actually got an answer.

“She died…” Uenkai clinched his jaw, gripping his blade and burning a hole into the dark ground with his eyes, “She died protecting me… and I tried to follow her…”

A shiver went across Yorihi’s shoulders and she tried to ignore it. The phantom feeling of the knife in her hand when she was in pitch black of the cave and the resistance as she drew it across that unknown person’s throat… “At least you had a reason…” She had had a reason then but it sounded foolish now…

The boy shook his head, “I don’t even remember what happened, I just know I did it…” he growled, biting his lip to try and keep it low, “They killed her… so I killed them…”

Yorihi remained quiet, feeling a dissonance from how she felt and how she thought she should feel. The truth being she didn’t feel anything about the reveal, she had assumed his partner died in battle, it made sense she died protecting him and he’d avenged her… so why did it bug her how little she felt about it?

The boy breathed in sharply but it didn’t stop the slight crack in his voice, “D-do you believe in love?”

Whatever Yorihi had thought before was completely derailed by the random question. – _The hell…?!_ \- She expected something like that from Xiao, not her stoic jerk of a partner.

Whether or not he could see her response didn’t seem to matter as the boy just continued, “M-my mother used to tell me about a kind of bird that loved its mate so intensely, if one was killed, even far away, the other would die soon after…” he gave this horribly sad kind of laugh, “heh, like they just knew…”

“Your mother?” the younger girl grabbed onto the mention, hoping to steer the conversation away from this bizarre turn. She had a feeling there was a connection between his earlier confession about his partner and the weird statement about birds she just wasn’t picking it up. She leaned her head towards him, “You’ve never mentioned her before?”

He ran an arm under his nose, trying to keep his voice down, “Like the bird, my mother didn’t last long after my father died…” well that wasn’t exactly steering the conversation away from the macabre. The boy shook his head, “She loved him so much she just… stopped living once she knew…”

“Kumori-kun…” to be honest Yorihi was trying to just make him stop, she hadn’t intended for a full-on life-time confession of everything that had happened to him, she’d only been trying to comfort him. They were on a mission for kami’s sake!!

“Sasayaki…” again that sad sound in his voice, “A-after that… we’d only known each other in school, but she and her family helped me out then… and she just kept helping me…” his grip on the sword was so tight Yorihi was positive his knuckles were white, “I should have died with her… if sensei hadn’t….!!” his teeth were so clinched he couldn’t get the words out.

Without warning there was a firm grip on his shoulder, Yorihi had snuck over the short distance between their trees and grasped his shoulder tightly causing him to turn coming face to face with the Kumo insignia covering her eyes.

“Kumori-kun,” the girl’s voice was low, even and had an unusual amount of threat in it, “As glad as I am that you’re _finally_ opening up to me,” there was definitely a growl in her voice as she leaned in a bit closer and spoke lower, “Now. Is not. _The time._ ” Priorities, her Teacher had stressed in her mind to not ignore anything, it just had its specific time and place. – _And now is not it!!-_

The wide eyed and stunned boy just nodded, probably surprised both in himself and in his new partner.

The blind girl nodded, sighing slightly, leaning enough to put her forehead to his, “I understand this… _situation_ may have brought back… memories,” she could feel him wince, “But we have a mission, we’re in enemy territory and it is _not safe_.”

The boy nodded, taking a calming breath.

“The sooner we finish this,” she gripped the back of his neck, noticing he was staring at her hitae-ate, probably the same as he would someone else’s eyes in such close proximity, “The sooner we can go home, get sweet buns, and you can cry into your tea all you want about all this,” she smirked and hoped he saw it, “Understand?”

The boy nodded again and she finally let him go. For a second he leaned back, closed his eyes, took another calming breath and when he opened them the jerky-wannabe-leader she was used to was back.

She sat back, making sure she was still hidden from any sentries before turning to him again, “Good?”

He gave a shuddering nod, breathing out heavily as he glanced around the tree he had been breaking down behind, “Good.”

Yorihi released a breathe she didn’t realize she’d been holding, “Good,” she leaned back against her own tree, sensing around them to make sure no one had gotten too close during that whole ordeal. Luckily there was none, all the sentries were where she remembered them and Bachiko was tugging at her consciousness, noticing her stress. She gave him the feeling of everything being okay and he pulled her consciousness in a direction he noted was safe. The pale girl smiled, turning to her partner, “Because Bachiko found us a way in.”

“Yorihi,” the older genin grabbed the girl’s arm and for a moment he stared at her intensely.

The girl paused at her name, _her_ name, not her surname like he usually used and the grip holding her in place. For a long minute she stared at him through the plate covering her eyes as he stared at it, his teal eyes saying he wanted to say something important but it just didn’t seem to want to get out. Tired of the silence the girl reversed the grip, her hand now holding his wrist as she tugged him in the direction her ghost cat had indicated. Her partner came without a word, just following.

“Don’t worry about it,” she finally said as they made it to a mossy hill, she could feel Bachiko nearby, as if on the other side of a wall or something. Trusting her feline companion’s ‘instructions’ she moved her hand over the mossy area until her hand felt something distinctly not dirt. Tapping it she found it sounded metallic. With a quick sweep the moss was removed enough to reveal a rusted door, a small smirk picked at her lips as she could feel Bachiko smirking on the other side of it, “Help me with this door…”

Wordlessly the older boy came over and the two opened the rusty cellar door. Unsurprisingly, on the other side of it was a very elegant looking large blue-black cat who was staring at them with his vibrant blue eyes, waving about his long forked tails. Yorihi just smirked at her cat, jumping under the rusty door and holding it long enough for her male partner to jump down as well before the two silently lowered it shut.

Darkness. Pure, unadulterated, pitch-black darkness.

Yorihi felt like she was home. Immediately any focus she used for her eyes was gone and all of her other senses seemed to hone and increase. She knew the effect was purely mental but it was exhilarating anyway, almost a year and now back in her element.

A snort and tug from her finicky feline pulled her from the short revelry. It was mission time.

A hand came down on her shoulder that she merely turned her head at, she knew who it was otherwise they would have lost the arm. Uenkai swallowed hard as he closed his eyes, willing for them to adjust to the pure darkness quicker. His fingers gripped the smaller girl’s shoulder a bit tighter before he whispered lowly, “Just until my eyes adjust.”

The blind girl merely shrugged, for the moment amused by the situation.

The duo followed the wispy cat throughout the lower parts of the base. Apparently the area they’d entered was abandoned and supposedly ‘sealed off’ so no one was nearby. Upon entering the obvious ‘lived in’ sections torches were now posted every few feet and at the ends of halls. Now able to see properly, Uenkai had let go of his partner’s shoulder and took up a proper position on the opposite wall. The two made their way throughout the inhabited sections of the base relatively quickly, avoiding any notice. There weren’t many bandits down here, it was rather strange, the few they’d seen didn’t even look like the thugs up top, some more like researchers, others more deadly.

Bachiko lead them another flight down and a few hallways before the cat stopped, tails straight up and his vibrant blue eyes narrowed. Yorihi’s position immediately took on a similar look, tense with her beat rods out, as the two slid along the wall and inched towards the edge. She could feel it before see anything in the low torchlight. Uenkai come up next to her, nudging her side as his means of asking her what it was. The blind girl held up one hand with one finger extended, signaling one possible threat. He tapped her shoulder twice, asking for more information, she waved her hand as if to say ‘you look’. The boy couldn’t help rolling his eyes as he took a step around her and stood around her cat at the edge of the hallway, holding his large sword up and angling it enough to catch _some_ of what the other two could obviously feel down the hall.

Most of the lights down the hall were out, but what little there was gave the teal eyed boy enough light to see at least two dead bodies and one person standing in the middle heaving.

“WHO’S THERE!!” a voice called from the middle of the hall, haggard and stressed, “SHOW YOURSELF!!”

Uenkai could see the motion reflected on his sword, the person standing in a way that suggested a weapon pointed at them but the sound of their voice convinced him they were on their last leg. Teal eyes glanced at his partner, the girl giving him this flat look with her tattooed brows before he shrugged, stepping out into the hall. There was something that sounded like a feline snort and hand meeting forehead but he ignored them as he stood with his blade raised, keeping his eyes on what appeared to be a girl in the hall.

“Who are you?” he asked in a strong voice, eyes narrowed as he examined his possible opponent. She looked frail, clothes roughed up and torn, blood in several spots as she held out a kunai towards him in one hand and holding her neck with the other. There was also a headband on her forehead, the symbol looking like three prongs connected, supposed to represent blowing grass, meaning she was a Kusa-nin.

“W-where’s the other one?” the girl shivered, taking a step back into the blood of one of the bodies at her feet.

“What other one?” teal eyes narrowed as Uenkai tried to predict how the girl was going to act. The two bodies at her feet were obviously bandits, they had no headbands and their outfits matched those up top. Obviously this girl was skilled enough to take them out but apparently doing so had made her unstable… unpredictable.

“THE ONE YOU WERE TALKING TO!!” she randomly shouted, waving her kunai-wielding hand in a wide arc.

Uenkai had all of a moment to quirk his eyebrows before something dropped down behind the girl, catching her attention causing her to turn and something else rushed passed him. He knew what it was the moment he saw the girl tense as out of seemingly nowhere a monstrously huge cat with flaming blue-black fur and huge bright eyes was grinning down at her with big teeth.

One could count the seconds as the Kusa-girl’s mind caught up to what her eyes were telling her and her mouth opened as if to scream.

That’s when the other blur that had rushed past Uenkai revealed itself, as Yorihi quickly grappled the distracted girl, locking her arms behind her back and having her other hand around her mouth preventing any noise. Well, mostly, as the girl did give a muffled shriek, both at her captor and the monstrous cat in front of her shrinking down to pocket sized.

“ _Tenkyuu!_ ” Uenkai growled as he quickly got closer to the two, stepping in front of the nearly hysteric Kusa-nin and making sure she was okay. She didn’t appear to be hurt, well _more_ hurt by his partner, as she was obviously previously in a roughed up state from fighting those bandits. His eyes went from the Kusa-girl’s teary green eyes to the cold plate of his partner’s, scowling slightly, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Keeping her quiet,” the dark haired girl answered flatly and matter-of-fact, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. At the continued glare from her partner, and minor growl, she rolled her eyes causing her brows to move in a certain way the boy had come to register her doing as such or equivalent, “We don’t have time for dealing with prisoners,” at the questioning look from her partner the girl scoffed, “bloody wrists and ankles with rope burns, not to mention the obvious dehydration and slight wasting,” there were a few other clues that she wouldn’t have picked up if not for her lessons with her Grandmother but the blind girl felt her partner didn’t need to know, “Obviously she was kept in a cell, therefore a prisoner.”

The older boy frowned, looking over the Kusa-girl with stern eyes before removing his partner’s hand from her mouth and speaking softly, “Hey, we can get you out of here…”

“We are _not_ here to rescue anyone!” the blind girl all but growled around the taller girl’s shoulder.

Teal eyes furrowed as the boy frowned at his partner, “We need some information, she can help us.”

Again the blind girl growled, letting her captive go.

The girl had wide green eyes and was frantically looking around, backing away from the Kumo konoichi.

Uenkai had his hands up none threateningly, “No screaming, alright?”

The Kusa-nin jumped at his low voice, noticing he wasn’t attacking her and registering his words. She nodded unconsciously before swallowing and adding, “I-I’ll take you guys over those b-bandits…” she nodded down at the corpses nearby, the sight seeming to make her skin crawl.

With a light breath Uenkai lowered his hands, glancing around noticing Yorihi was keeping ‘watch’, likely sensing out the ends of the hall and her cat seemed to have disappeared. Looking back at the freaked out Kusa Konoichi he started his questions, “What happened here?” he nudged his head towards the bodies.

Her breathing increased and she started to shake, glancing from the bodies on the floor to the Kumo boy in front of her, “Th-they…” she swallowed looking away, “They’d taken my whole team… I was the last one left…” she raised one hand and started rubbing her neck, “I-I’d heard things… _horrible_ things… a-and I knew this was my only chance…”

“Show her the picture,” the blind girl called back to her partner flatly.

Uenkai frowned at his partner’s flippantness but did as she asked, pulling out their mission scroll and showing the Kusa girl a picture of the plant they’d come to retrieve, “Have you seen this?”

The reaction was instantaneous, the girl’s eyes widened and she started to shake more, “Tha-that’s…” her hands clinched at her sides, “That’s the same thing we came here to get!”

A tattooed brow rose on the Kumo Konoichi, “Really?”

The Kusa girl jumped at the flat voice, for some reason the shorter Kumo girl was far more scary then the boy, he at least seemed to not be interested in threatening her. The Kusa-nin nodded, wide green eyes jumping from the plate with Kumo’s insignia to the boy’s not as intense teal eyes, “W-we were just told it was a healing herb and to retrieve it… we didn’t think…” her hand jumped to mouth as she choked on air, “My god… Dai… Tenno…” the girl finally seemed to collapse on the ground, eyes just wide.

Again there was that brow-roll as Yorihi groaned. She walked up to the girl, reaching down enough to grab her shirt and pull her back up to standing, “Which way were they taking you?” the girl’s eyes didn’t seem to be focused, staring at some horror only she could see, “Hey!” a pale hand gripped around the Kusa Konoichi’s face as her eyes seemed to finally focus on the Kumo girl, “They were taking you down this hall, right?” there was the slightest nod from the shocked girl, “Which way?” unconsciously her head nodded towards the way opposite the one they’d come. Yorihi immediately dropped her, turning to her partner, “It’s likely that way,” then she turned to the girl who was again on the floor, “You,” the blind girl’s head nudged in the opposite direction, “Get out of here,” before she started heading toward their intended direction.

The Kusa Konoichi just seemed to tense more, glancing down the better lit way the two Kumo-nin had come from.

“Damnit, Tenkyuu,” Uenkai kneeled next to the shaking foreigner, gently holding her shoulders and getting her to look his way, “Hey it’ll be okay,” and glaring back at his partner, “We can’t just leave her here, let alone let her go on her own, she’ll be killed!”

Another groan from the Raikage’s daughter as she stopped, shoulders slumping, “That was the point,” her voice didn’t rise above the low tone she’d been using but it was obvious she was getting more and more annoyed the longer this situation played out. Without looking she turned enough to point at the Kusa girl with one of her rods though facing her partner, “She was good enough to take out these two guards, if we were lucky she’d take out a decent amount of the rest before getting inevitably killed, though by then we would have gotten the plant and hopefully be on our way out of here.”

Teal eyes furrowed as he stared at his partner, wishing beyond anything she could see the look on his face, “So you’d sacrifice her to increase our chances?”

“She’s not Kumo.” That was all Yorihi had to say before turning around, letting her dark words sink into her partner’s head. If the girl had been a member of Kumo, yes, she’d have bothered to try ‘saving’ her, though no member of Kumo would stand getting captured alive if there was anything they could do about it so the point was moot. The girl was not Kumo, so she had no value as far as the Raikage’s daughter was concerned.

Uenkai clinched his fists and tried not to growl any louder than he was. – _Damn her!_ \- He knew she was right… but this was so stupid! Without thinking the teal haired boy grabbed the Kusa girl’s wrist and pulled her to her feet, dragging her the way his partner was headed, “C’mon.”

The Kusa-nin gave no resistance, whatever trauma she’d already been through coupled with the reality of her situation made her pliant. She followed where the boy dragged her; so far, he was the only one not trying to actively kill her.

Yorihi just shook her head, chalking up her partner’s sympathy to the way he’d acted earlier. Taking the girl with them was a foolish action, for more than one reason and she didn’t have time to explain it to him. In the back of her mind she could feel Bachiko agreeing with her, something about the way she smelled was wrong according to him, as well as following the nudges he gave as she moved down several corridors.

They were back to moving cautiously and silently, the Kusa-nin, despite her obviously disturbed state, kept quiet and went wherever Uenkai pulled her. She wasn’t half bad in stealth, Yorihi would admit, but the vacant feeling the blind girl got from her just didn’t sit right. Something was definitely wrong with that girl and this setup.

They made it to a pair of double doors at the end of a hall. There were no signs but it appeared sufficiently ‘science-y’ enough to tell Yorihi this was likely the place. She went to one side of the door, signaling her partner to the other. After a second she held up two fingers, two people were inside moving about.

Uenkai nodded before turning to the Kusa girl and whispering, “Hold your breath.” He let go of her wrist and performed several seals, taking in a deep breath and turned to his partner. She had three fingers up and counting down.  Unconsciously he nodded despite knowing she couldn’t see his response, but the moment the younger girl’s hand became a fist the two barged into to the room and he released a cloud of ether that quickly incapacitated the two occupants.

Yorihi hit them over the head with her beat rods just in case; they wouldn’t be getting up any time soon. With the room cleared the blind girl took a deep breath, “Nice to know this works so well…”

While the statement was vague enough to have meant the ambush, Uenkai knew his blind partner was referring to the seal on the roof of her mouth. As much as he hated the girl’s Grandmother for putting him through several indignities, he would thank her for that one bit of brilliance.

The blind girl turned to her partner, “See anything of value?”

A teal brow rose slightly as he glanced at his partner. After working with her for several months he knew for a fact she had some concept of ‘sight’ thanks to her chakra and enhanced senses, so he _knew_ she knew exactly what was in the room around them, probably could even read the inside of the closed notebooks scattered all over the desks, but she was acting the fool. He would have called her on it but a noise caught his attention, someone coughing, and he remembered the Kusa Konoichi. He stared at his partner with a frown, understanding her ploy, “Looks to be a science room, buncha notes everywhere,” he glanced around, noticing several samples of the plant they’d been sent to get, “Got a few of the plants.”

“Grab them,” she reached into her back pouch and pulled out a scroll, shoving a bunch of stuff on a table to one side as she set it down revealing an empty seal, “along with any notes that look important,” idly she kicked one of the unconscious bandits, “These guys don’t feel like scientists, they were likely down here to pack up meaning we don’t have a lot of time…”

Uenkai quickly nodded, “Mmhm,” and went about grabbing anything that looked remotely valuable. Whatever these plants were R&D was going to get plenty of them and whatever research these bandits were doing on them. Seriously though, since when did _bandits_ do research?

A snort behind him told him his partner was probably thinking the same thing.

There was another cough from the door, an idle glance from the Kumo-nin told them the Kusa Konoichi was inching her way in, looking around with wide eyes and apparently more distraught than before. After ripping her gaze from the unconscious bodies on the ground she frantically looked about, noticing as Uenkai grabbed two of the plants, “Are those…?”

The boy stopped half way across the room glancing at the foreign Konoichi, she was pointing at him. looking down he noticed the plants, not exactly pretty things being a kind of black vine, before looking back at her, “Yea, these look like them…” the girl made a motion like she wanted to grab them but pulled back, Uenkai raised a brow, holding one out to her, “You want one?”

The Kusa Konoichi drew her arm back, holding it tightly to her chest, both nodding and shaking her head as if unable to decide, “N-no… th-those things… they’re why… why my teammates…” she brought her hand up and bit it, trying to push down whatever memories were surfacing.

“Kumori,” a rough girl’s voice called him, hand out waiting for what they’d come for.

Teal eyes looked back at his partner’s waiting hand, sparing the Kusa girl one last glance before handing it over to his partner, “Yea, here.”

Yorihi gave a derisive snort, taking the plants along with the notes and placing them on the scroll, and after a few hand seals she performed outside the Kusa girl’s range of sight there was a **_poof!!_** And it all disappeared, a symbol forming on the scroll. The Kumo Konoichi quickly took the scroll, rolling it up and sticking it in her pack, turning enough to face her partner, “Let’s get out of here.”

“Hmp,” the boy nodded and the trio headed out.

Again they traveled quietly and cautiously, Yorihi leading them while the Kusa girl clung to Kumori’s wrist with one hand and kept holding her neck with the other. Uenkai didn’t seem to notice the girl, keeping his focus on ‘external’ threats and following his partner’s movements. Yorihi was watching the girl.

It was easy enough to retrace their steps, no one seemed to notice them, hell the bodies were still in that one hall when they retraced it. The whole situation seemed wrong, far too easy, something about it was rubbing Yorihi the wrong way. Yes, they’d had missions that were as simple as this; get in, get object, get out, before but this was their first time in an underground bandit camp, and while it wasn’t a part of their mission to gather reconnaissance on what these bandits were doing it still didn’t make any sense. Then there was the Kusa girl. Yes, they’d passed cells, empty cells, on their way down but none had appeared to be occupied. And _no one_ had noticed the girl hadn’t made it wherever she was supposed to be going? Called an alarm? Hell, she didn’t even _take_ the object of her own mission… - _what the hell?!_ -

They made it back to the rusty door, Kumori holding Yorihi’s shoulder like before with the Kusa girl holding onto his shirt. The blind girl had to roll her hidden eyes, least her apparent idiot of a partner hadn’t _completely_ forgotten to leave himself totally disarmed. Yorihi traced her hand along the rusty door, feeling out beyond it, it only took a second and still she didn’t like the feeling she got.

“It’s clear,” she spoke lowly, pushing the door open, allowing the moonlight in and holding it so the other two could pass. Once out Yorihi closed the rusty door silently, finding the quiet forest unnerving. With a low snort she pulled on Bachiko’s consciousness, he appeared on her shoulder for a moment before she nudged her head, telling him to check things out. They both knew she hadn’t needed to ‘tell’ him as both had their fur on edge… this whole situation feeling wrong.

“We should head back,” Uenkai called lowly behind him, eyes forward on the forest around them. Momentarily he glanced back at his partner who gave a curt nod before turning to the Kusa girl who was still visibly shaken, “Think you can make it back to Kusa?”

She seemed to jump, one hand jumping to her neck as she shakily nodded, then shook her head, “N-no… not on my own… m-maybe…” her eyes glanced at the ground momentarily, around them, then back to the Kumo boy’s not-so-hard ones, “I-if I could maybe-”

There was suddenly a loud crack…

Teal eyes widened as he watched in seemingly slow motion as the Kusa girl’s neck twisted at a wrong angle and as her body dropped a cold monster stood behind her. He had to blink, taking a step back as the shadow left, his eyes adjusting, or finally registering what was in front of him.

Tenkyuu Yorihi.

Something about the way his partner looked at that moment, staring right at him with her hitae-ate and not fazed at all about snapping the foreign konoichi’s neck.

“Snap out of it,” her voice was cold as she crouched, pulling out a sealing scroll, “We got what we came for…”

Something in the old boy snapped, “Got what we came for?” his teeth ground as he threw out a hand in anger, “You just snapped a girl’s neck for no reason!!” his partner didn’t flinch, didn’t change from her task, seemingly ignoring him, “All because what sensei said?!”

“No,” the girl’s voice was low, tempered, and very threatening as she examined the body, “didn’t you think it was strange? Convenient even, that we came across her? How there were no guards… just the ones she killed?” Yorihi could sense her partner’s hackles lower, slowly, as he digested what she said, “This whole mission was a set up…”

Teal brows furrowed, “A set up for what?”

“I don’t know,” the girl’s pale hand grazed along the wound she’d inflicted, the broken bone jutted in the wrong way, spinal cord severed right where it met the medulla… a quick clean kill. Tougemichi would have been proud. For a moment Yorihi frowned, the question she knew her mind wanted to ask lingering in the background… she pushed it down as her hand lowered, coming to the girl’s collar, feeling something strange. Tattooed brows furrowed, “She kept touching her neck…”

“What?” Uenkai growled, glancing around, wondering where the other guards were.

Yorihi pulled down the girl’s collar, enough to show some of her shoulder, there was a black mark. The blind girl’s brows lowered more, “She had a seal…”

“What!” teal eyes turned around on his partner quick, crouching down next to her and getting a good look at the mark on the Kusa girl’s neck. It was a small pattern of jagged lines, looking incomplete but upon placing his hand near it he could feel the chakra.

“It’s likely this seal is how she killed those guards,” Yorihi recovered the seal, “I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if she’d come with us back to Kumo…”

Uenkai turned on his partner, “What do you mean?”

She turned on him with low brows and steel over an obvious frown, “She was about to ask we bring her back with us… and you would have agreed.”

The older boy opened his mouth… but no words came out, too stunned as it started to hit him.

Those brows were so low only the cyan tattoos were visible, “You would have brought a foreign weapon into the village that could have done untold damage!” she growled, the sheer idea of _anything_ threatening her home, her family, was enough to set her off, “She could have exploded, released a deadly poison, become a berserker, who knows!” setting aside her frustration enough to not yell at him she unraveled the sealing scroll next to the body and started the seals.

“I…” Uenkai hung his head in shame, “I’m sorry…”

“You should be,” holding her hands in the last seal there was a momentary flash before the girl’s body was gone, a new seal appearing on the scrolls.

A fist clinched in the older boy’s lap, “I didn’t think…”

“No you didn’t,” quickly Yorihi rolled up the scroll, tucking it away in her back pouch and standing up.

“Yorihi…” teal eyes just looked up at the girl, one who was supposedly younger than him but acted so much older.

“Did you ever think to ask what happened to the rest of the bandits here?” the girl’s voice was flat as her partner shook his head, “They’re all dead.”

“But-how?!” the boy shot to his feet, hand gripping his cleaver sword, “We just saw them patrolling before we went in?! Saw some of them in the corridors…”

The smaller girl just shrugged, “Bachiko’s checking it out as we speak,” a slight frown picked at her lips, “They’re all dead… likely…” Yorihi bit her lip, not sure she should voice what was running through her mind.

“Likely what?” Uenkai’s voice was finally back to the rough serious it normally was.

The girl’s brows furrowed, more worried than angry at this point, “That either this was a trap or we stumbled upon a field test…”

\-----

Bachiko sat upon the rampart of the Bandit’s base, vibrant blue eyes staring at what was before him. Only yesterday this place had been full of gambling, loud, obnoxious and overly confident bandits.

Now… it was a mass of body parts strewn about at random, blood one the walls and pooled in the dirt.

He may not have been old by demon standards but he wasn’t ignorant. This hadn’t been a battle… it was a slaughter.

\-----

Shibu Bushi – from ‘Shibushibu’- reluctance, Bushi – warrior – Reluctant Warrior


	4. Sweet Dumplings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, this just got real, really fast... time for some occupational advice.

Upon returning to Kumo the partners split up. Yorihi instructed Uenkai to inform their sensei about the completion of the mission as well as giving a report to either her Grandmother or Father. They needed to know what happened at that base, just in case…

She headed to the one place in Kumo no one ever _really_ wanted to go willingly: R &D.

Stepping in through the glass sliding doors of the deceptively ‘ _pleasant_ ’ waiting room she came face to face with the only occupant, the desk clerk. Stepping closer to the clean reception she realized this wasn’t the same person that her Grandmother had blown off when she was brought her last and as she had no knowledge on how to ‘properly’ turn in acquisitions she was left with the only course left to her: _talking_ to the desk clerk.

Clearing her throat Yorihi stood straight and as confident as she could muster, “I’m here to deliver something.”

The woman behind the desk seemed to prop up, gold colored eyes blinking wide, obviously somewhat surprised someone was talking to her. The woman appeared to be in her teens, at least that’s how she looked to Yorihi, for all the young genin knew the woman was older than Moe-sensei or worse… related to her, “Oh my!! _T’chun_!!” whatever had been in her hand had been thrown about, revealing the woman to be wearing the standard R &D white labcoat, only this one seemed to have ridiculously long sleeves as they went well past her hands and the dark tan skinned woman didn’t seem to bother rolling them up. She straightened in her seat and gave a deceptively cute smile, fluffing about her large mass of purple hair in several poofy up pigtails, “You must be new to this, _T’chun_ …” after opening her eyes she glanced around a bit and seemed to produce a clipboard with a blank sign-in sheet, pushing it across the space with the obvious intent that Yorihi sign it though it was questionable she really meant it, “Most people just walk by going about their business, we don’t normally have people actually _talk_ to the person at the desk, _T’chun_.”

A cyan tattooed brow rose as Yorihi wondered if the constant adding of ‘ _T’chun_ ’ was a verbal tick or the woman’s native colloquialism… other than the bizarre cute-ness like Moe-sensei she didn’t look to be native to Kumo. “Oookay?” Yorihi ran her hand over the sign-in sheet, again noting no other signatures along with no real other information required, not even a time stamp. Ignoring the form for the moment Yorihi pulled out the sealing scrolls and placed them on the desk, “I just wanted to hand these over directly to whoever was meant to get them…”

“ _T’chun?_ ” the fluffy haired woman seemed to bring her sleeve-covered hands together under her chin and tilt her head like a cat, eyes closed and everything. Yorihi just kept her eyebrow raised as the woman finally seemed to grab the scrolls and unravel them momentarily, reading the seals within, “Oh my, you really got something quite interesting here didn’t you, _T’chun_ ,” keeping her eyes seemingly closed the woman swiveled around in her rolly chair and took the rewrapped scroll, scribbling out a few notes, attaching it to the scroll and placing it in a letter box under ‘F’. She turned back to Yorihi with a catlike grin, “I’ll have that one sent off to Section F soon as someone gets up here, _T’chun._ Now,” she grabbed the other scroll, opening it and seeming to ‘read’ the seal, “As for this one, _T’chun_ …”

“Section F?” the blind questioned, watching as the woman glanced at the other scroll, “I know where that is…” Yorihi swallowed quickly when the woman’s sharp gold eyes turned to her momentarily, as if she’d forgotten she was there, “I-I could take it right now…” plus it was a decent enough excuse to get away from this woman and she’d feel much better with her Grandfather handling such a thing.

“Hrmmm…” again with the strange catlike look as the woman _stared_ at Yorihi with closed eyes, “N’kay, _T’chun!!_ ” with a bright disturbingly cute grin she wheeled around, grabbed the scroll, note and all, and handed it back to Yorihi. After the Genin took it the woman seemed to ‘look’ her over again, “You wouldn’t happen to know where Section R is as well, _T’chun_? They’re part of Division T… I think…”

Yorihi gave an awkward grin, stepping back towards the hall she remembered her Grandmother lugging her, “N-no… sorry,” she waved back awkwardly, “I’ll just go deliver this…”

Again the squinty look as the cat-girl had her sleeve-covered hands under her chin, “N’kay…” then her eyes seemed to pop open as a thought came to her, “Oh! _T’chun_ … HEY!! You should go give Section B a check-in,” her head tilted plainly as an afterthought, “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind a few more samples, _T’chun_ …”

An uncomfortable shudder went across Yorihi’s shoulders and she thought it best to just ignore the woman and be on her way. The plants would be delivered to ‘Section R’ when the chance was given, but for now she would deliver the other scroll to her Grandfather directly, as far as she knew he was the only one in R&D working in Section F.

After another traumatizing trek through the bowels of R&D that Yorihi remembered from her last time here, she found her way to the faded door with the markings of what remained of ‘Section F’. For a moment she considered knocking… then remembered how Reki-baba had just barged in. checking the handle she found it was unlocked and decided to just walk in. very little was different this time around as the last time she was here; the place was cluttered with scrolls, books, a desk lamp that didn’t provide nearly enough light and a few discarded ramen cups in the trashcan. Uzushio was behind his desk, sans ramen cup, typing away furiously at a computer he seemed to find utterly frustrating.

“Ano… Uzushio-jiji?” the young girl tapped on the pink haired man’s desk hoping to get his attention without startling him.

“Hmm?” blindly a hand waved as a response, “One moment… just need to finish-agh!” the older man growled as he smacked the side of the monitor in front of him, his frustration obviously reached its limit, “Damn machinery,” he leaned back in his chair breathing out smoke from his nose as he adjusted the pipe in his mouth while trying to calm down enough that his brows weren’t low. It wasn’t really working but by the time he opened his eyes he was calm enough to look past his desk and realize the girl on the other side was _not_ the normal courier. Purple eyes blinked momentarily, “Yorihi-chan? What are you doing here?” his eyes narrowly surveyed his office, as if expecting a certain someone to pop out of the walls accompanying the girl.

Yorihi giggled as the man she considered her Grandfather paranoidly looked about the room, “I’m by myself Jiji,” she pulled out the scroll, “I brought you something from my latest mission,” that seemed to bring the older man’s attention back to her as she set the scroll on his desk.

Purple eyes were narrowed on the storage scroll as Uzushio took hold of it, unraveling it long past his desk and examining the storage seal thoroughly, “Hmm…”

For a moment Yorihi just stood back and fidgeted. She knew he’d have to release the body from the scroll to get a proper look at the seal on the girl’s neck… and of course he’d want to ask questions about what she’d seen… still, she felt suddenly rather nervous but minimized it to just her slight fidgeting and grabbing one of her swords. She watched as the seal master examined every inch of the scroll first, she honestly had no idea how the storage seal scrolls worked, she and Uenkai had been simply handed them and told ‘put object here then put in chakra’ and the seals in the paper did the rest. She knew the seal in the center of the scroll changed depending on what was input and the lengths after the large seal filled out with massive amounts of smaller seals… perhaps he was reading that.

Her brow twitched after several minutes of relative silence passed, for some reason the best thing she could come up with to end it was to comment about the pipe, “I didn’t know you smoked Jiji…”

Pinking brows rose over the scroll as the elder man lowered it enough to look at her directly. He blinked at her plainly and noticed her brows twitched, likely blinking in response too. Idly he moved the pipe in his mouth to the front and pulled it out, examining the piece before looking at the young girl again, “Only when I’m stressed, hmp,” his nose flared as he went back to reading the scroll, “And even then it is a rare occasion…” before the girl could even comment he raised one hand and pointed at her, not looking, “I don’t want to hear any of this getting back to the damn brash woman, understand!”

Reflexively Yorihi stood at attention, “Yes sir!!” then a grin cracked across her face and she chuckled slightly, “I didn’t even say anything about Baba, Jiji… hehe…”

“Hmp!” the man snorted smoke before setting his pipe down on his desk and standing up, rolling the scroll enough to move as he headed to a door on the back wall of his office, “Come along,” he waved a hand behind him to indicate Yorihi follow before opening the door and revealing the exam room where he’d given her the tattoo on the roof of her mouth. It was a sparse room mostly, since it was kept clean and sterile for its various uses. The only real furniture in the stark room was a stainless steel adjustable operating table. It was here that he took out the scroll, unraveling it along the table while waving at Yorihi as she stepped inside, “Close that would you?” the moment he heard the door shut there was a slight buzzing sound, Yorihi assumed it was some seal activating as her Grandfather placed his hand on the central seal in the scroll and with a **_poof!!_** The body of the Kusa Konoichi was laid out on the stainless steel table.

Yorihi’s grip on her sword increased as she stepped forward.

“You can take that off in here if you so please,” the older man gestured to the girl’s headband covering her eyes as he leaned in to examine the body.

“I’d rather not,” her voice was flatter, colder in the silence of the sealed room as she stepped forward to stand next to the table.

“To each their own,” out of seemingly nowhere the man pulled out a hooked knife and with quick expert hands had made several incisions along the former Konoichi’s clothing. He pulled off the shredded garments with little fanfare, exposing the pale lifeless body which he then proceeded to examine for particular markings and incisions.

Yorihi tried to remain absolutely still. She wasn’t unfamiliar with death but this was the first time she’d seen someone giving a thorough examination to a naked corpse. She swallowed the nervousness, “Jiji… is this… really necessary?”

“Hmm?” the older man glanced up from his work, noticing the girl. Momentarily he seemed to stare through her before shaking his head, “I often forget you are just a child,” he places his hands on one side of the body, “if you would help me flip it over…” hesitantly the girl steps forward and helps with the task but immediately steps back once done, “There we go,” he leans in again, thoroughly examining the body _she_ had delivered, “As for your question, yes this is quite necessary…”

Tattooed brows lower slightly as the girl frowned, “The seal is on her left shoulder, where the neck connects,” she swallows thickly, wishing she could look away, “I don’t understand why you had to… strip her…”

“Seals never remain after activation,” he was near the ankles now, scrutinizing something Yorihi couldn’t see, as he pointed up towards the visible seal, “That is the seal in its dormant state,” he stood straight and gave the body one last look, “From what I can tell when active the seal extends to the entire body, seeming at random to cause alterations in physique, though it is likely only to accommodate a chakra boost… hmm?” he folded his arms in thought before purple eyes glanced at the still girl, “Were there any other symptoms?”

“It’s not like I knew her,” Yorihi bit out harshly but kept her voice at a decent volume. A frown tugged at her face she gripped one of her swords, “From what we saw her behavior was erratic, disjointed, paranoid and volatile…” she swallowed hard, “All clear signs of significant trauma…”

“Hmp,” Uzushio rubbed his forefinger and thumb along his pink mustache as he moved around the table, ending near the shoulder opposite of Yorihi. For the longest time he looked at the seal, purple eyes expertly tracing the compact seal for any details to its purpose. Finally his eyes trailed to the former Konoichi’s broken neck, “Which one of you did it?”

“I did…” Yorihi’s hand gripped tighter.

“Hmp…” passively purple eyes traced the wound, “A clean break, not exactly pretty but efficient,” finally his eyes moved from the corpse and looked at the _small_ girl in front of him. His eyes softened as he was reminded of another little girl he once knew who was a killer, she hid it much better, “I’m sorry, Yorihi-chan… I forget you are so young…”

The frown on the young girl’s face pulled deeper as her brows furrowed slightly, “I am not unaccustomed to death or killing, Uzushio-jiji…” her hand held her sword tightly as she pushed her frown into a flat line, “This is not my first kill…”

Idly the man nodded, pressing a seal on the table that caused a hidden drawer full of surgical tools and brushes to come out next to him, “I can see that,” he nodded towards the broken neck, “A newly minted genin should not be capable of such decisive action,” another seal on his opposite side caused a stool to appear which he sat down on, picking up tools and beginning to trace lines Yorihi couldn’t fathom their purpose, “But that is also telling,” momentarily purple eyes stared directly into her hidden ones, “This might not be your first kill, but it is the first time you **_chose_** on your own without outside instruction to take a life…”

Yorihi stilled, knowing what he said was true… and likely that was why she felt so pensive.

Uzushio’s eyes went back to his work but he continued talking to her, “Choosing to take a life is different from being told to take a life,” he set one instrument down, taking up a scalpel and making several incisions near the wrist, “the distinction is so profound yet minute many of us veterans forget it exists,” with a pair of forceps he removed some tissue from the wrist and placed it in a sterile container next to him, “being ordered or forced to kill out of self-preservation is simply ‘killing’, it is unimportant and does very little to a person’s psyche… killing is killing, that is all.” He shoulders slumped slightly as he continued, “ ** _Choosing_** to kill someone, outside of self-preservation, is murder.” His hands paused at the last word and he looked up at Yorihi again, something in his eyes she couldn’t quite decipher other than it was extremely important, “I want you to understand Yorihi-chan I am not condemning you, I just want you to understand the gravity of your decision. To murder is to not only take life but to harm yourself, do you understand…”

She gave a clipped nod, frown spreading once again, “Yes, Jiji…”

He watched her for a moment longer, purple eyes scrutinizing her deeper than he had the corpse before nodding to himself and going back to his work, “I can tell by the way you act you took no pleasure in this action nor was it premeditated,” again he removed some tissue and placed it in the stainless steel container, “Tell me, why did you choose to take this girl’s life?”

Yorihi released a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. Straightening herself out she cleared her thoughts, undid her iron grip from her sword and calmly looked at her Grandfather, telling him her reasoning, “I saw a threat to Kumo and I removed it before anyone could get hurt.”

“Hmp…” the older pink haired man seemed to snort, thinking over her words before countering, “No consideration to this girl? Her life or what she wanted?”

A minute frown picked at Yorihi’s lips but this time not out of fear or shame but protectiveness, “She was not Kumo and after what Bachiko showed me I was not going to let her or any like her near my home or family.”

Uzushio paused in his work, glancing up at the girl truly shocked, “A truly noble reasoning, I had not expected that,” he sat up straight, fiddling with some powder concoction and his other devices, placing some on the marred skin before continuing his thought, “So you have murdered, but you are not a murderer,” a barely-there smile picked at his lips as he looked up at the girl, “I was concerned you did this out of some pithy reasoning; convenience, simplicity, boredom,” he chuckled when the younger girl’s brows lowered enough to suggest she was glaring at him, he waved it off, “But no, I see you had truly thought this out, however quick the decision was… decisive action and willingness to commit it are traits of a good leader.”

“Uzushio-jiji?” tattooed brows quirked as the girl wasn’t sure he was complimenting or chiding her.

The older gentleman gave a strange grin, lowering his hands to his lap as he thought for a moment, “I once met another girl, little older then you, who killed effectively and efficiently, without mercy or remorse… at least none that I could see…” he released a small sigh gazing into the middle distance, “she was a killer, pure and simple, taking lives with little reason or care… but she saved my life so I can’t exactly dismiss it…”

Tattooed brows furrowed slightly as Yorihi remembered something from the first time they’d met, “Kemui-sama…” the way he looked up at her like he’d just noticed her was all the confirmation she needed, “When we first met, you called her ‘Kemui-chan’, you said it with both respect and that of an adult to a child, she didn’t dismiss it either…” lightly she bit her lip tilting her head down and lowering her voice, “A-at the time I had wondered why she would allow such…”

A pleasant smile spread on the older man’s face, “You are very observant, even without those eyes,” there was a light chuckle in his throat when the girl pouted at him but he ignored it, “But yes, when I’d first met her she was a girl little older then you… and killing ANBU level shinobi with a mechanic ease,” a hand rose to rub his temples at the memory of over twenty years ago, “I was a different man then, by a different name, and she was a throw-away pawn, ‘shocktroops’ they were called, basically whatever was sane enough to take orders that madwoman confiscated from here to fill out her ranks…” his free hand clinched tightly, obvious anger spreading across his face that only age and experience kept from getting too far, “from what I learned they were sent ahead, ordered to eliminate resistance and secure primary targets, I had been one…” a deep sigh, “At the time I was grateful for the save… then mortified at her machine-like ease with taking life and personality,” he lowered his hand, looking at the girl in front of him serious, “I don’t mean to discredit the woman to you, but the girl I met and the woman she is now are as different as the tides; the girl then felt nothing, cared for nothing, only did as ordered, while I’m sure you know better than anyone how different the woman she is now is…”

“Mm,” absently the girl nodded, “It’s true, they _seem_ different,” her brows were flat as she stared at the man earnestly, not knowing if he’d believe her, “But I don’t think they are,” at the raised pink brow a small smirk picked at the girl’s lips, “Kemui-sama has always been an Assassin and while I am not one I was trained by _her_ master,” the smirk widened into a smile, fond of the memory in a way she never thought she would be, “He taught me how they thought, why they did what they did. A Shinobi is trained in many different ways with many different intents, an Assassin is only meant to kill. A Shinobi is given reason to take life: money, revenge, survival, protection, fear…” she took a deep breath, schooling her face to show the older man just how serious _she_ was, “An Assassin has only _one_ reason,” she raised one hand with her index finger up, “They are alive.” She lowered her hand letting that sink in before continuing, “From what he told me, they do not have the luxury to _feel_ any reason to kill, it is simply done because it is, that is all…” her voice lowered as she realized something, now that she had a better understanding, “We’re lucky, we can feel _something_ about our kills, make distinctions like ‘murder’ and ‘killing’, allow ourselves ‘justification’ to make us feel better about taking lives… when really there **_is_** no reason beyond ‘They are alive’…”

For a good long moment Uzushio just stared at the girl a fraction of his age. She had just answered a minor mystery in his life and he didn’t know what to think. Part of him railed against the absurdity of the reasoning… but there it was in front of him, making far too much sense.

He set his instruments down, staring blankly in front of him, “That must be so painful…”

Yorihi gripped her sword, “I-I wouldn’t know… I’m not one of them…”

Purple eyes jumped to the girl as a small smile spread on his lips, “And yet you could piece together something like that, which a man of my age could have never fathomed…”

The girl slightly blushed, fidgeting under the presumed praise.

His eyes fell back to the task at hand, the girl with the strange seal, the first chosen kill of the young girl in front of him, “I suppose that’s why it affects you so much,” he noticed she tilted her head, asking without words he explain. He smiled gently, “You’ve been nervous this whole time, on edge but trying to show a brave face, like it doesn’t matter, you want to emulate those who trained you but as you said you are not ‘one of them’,” he glanced her way, noticing her fidget again, “You had reason to kill this girl and you felt something, perhaps their reasoning allowed you to commit to the action easier but it still weights on you… it still affects you…”

“It’s supposed to,” her fingers thrummed along the handle of her blade when she noticed her looked at her with a piqued brow, “Another thing he taught me… Cherish the pain when you when you take a life because it means you are not a monster…”

“Hmm…” Uzushio sat back in his chair, rubbing his mustache in thought, “Such contradictory logic… yet I suppose it is the reason they are, or _were_ , the way they were…”

Yorihi tilted her face down and away, fingers tapping on the hilt of her sword, “If…” she bite her lower lip before taking a deep breath and facing her grandfather again, “If you don’t mind my asking Jiji, why did you tell me about Kemui-sama?”

The man was silent for a long time, picking at his project as he gave her question a moment of thought, “I was afraid,” his hands moved automatically, eyes focusing on his continued work with the corpse but the blind girl knew he was talking directly to her, “When she had saved my life, when I had seen what this small _girl_ was capable of…” momentarily his hands stilled as he stared in front of him, “When you came in here, the way your mood shifts when you know no one outside these walls can see, the way you act or try to,” purple eyes met the girl’s plate covered eyes, “It reminded me of her and I was afraid you had truly become like her,” he released a deep sigh, leaning back on his rather uncomfortable chair, “Truthfully, it seems I may have misjudged her all those years ago, but still, looking at you now and her then…” his hands shook and Yorihi could tell when he pressed his lips in a firm line, “I’m reminded of my daughter, how I was afraid of what happened to her, what she became,” a chuckle left his lips dryly, “I know it’s foolish, I know she’s gone, but still…” he set his tools down and looked at Yorihi sincerely for the longest time, “She was the same age as you the last time I’d seen her… heh, the first time I met Kemui-chan… the world is ironic I suppose…”

Yorihi was quiet for a long time not sure how to interpret what he was saying… but she knew that longing, heard it in his voice, “You only want what’s best for me, for her, for Kemui-sama,” her hand gripped her blade, “Even if you can’t really do anything about it…”

The old gentleman gave a closed eyed smile, “A father worries…” then he waved his hand, looking back at his work, “Now if you have nothing left to tell me, please leave… I need to work.”

With a firm nod the blind girl turned heading for the door, pausing momentarily as something flited through her mind, “You’re like a grandfather to me, Uzushio-san,” from behind her she could see his hand still, listening to her obviously, “I appreciate your concern and your advice so consider mine,” she took a deep breath before calmly releasing her breath, “Look beyond the past…”

“Yorihi,” the man’s voice was firm and deeper than before, “This is a place for the abandoned and forgotten, all we have is our past…”

The young girl pressed her lips together in a small frown, “I’m sorry,” before opening the heavy sealed door and making her way as quickly out of that place as she could.

While Uzushio sat and stared at the corpse in front of him for a long minute, then picked up his tools and got back to work.

\-----

“Hey you’re late!” a tan hand waved the girl over as Uenkai sat on a stool by one of the noodle stalls. He’d been there for a good while waiting on his teammate to finally show up from her delivery and from the looks of her high shoulders and jerky steps it hadn’t been all that good, “Have problems with…?” he frowned, not really sure if it was okay to mention she’d gone to R&D directly in public.

The arrogant girl just scoffed, taking a seat one over from him and she seemed angrily position herself with an obvious scowl marring her pale face, “Delivering wasn’t so bad,” her frown evened out some as the scarred chef asked her order and she quickly gave it to him before addressing her teammate again, “Just my grandfather had some… odd advice,” she grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the container in front of her, breaking them with mild success, “Though I think he was judging even if he tried not to sound like it…”

The teal haired boy frowned, concern making itself known on his face as he watched her for a moment, then turning back to his bowl of udon noodles just to hide his own concern about the _incident_ , “W-well I think he has a right to…” that’s when he realized what’d she’d said, “Wait? Grandfather?!” teal eyes went a bit wide as he turned on the smaller girl quickly, “You’re grandfather works at… ** _that_** place?!”

Yorihi nabbed some complimentary fried noodles off the counter, dipping them in sauce as Bachiko appeared on the counter next to it licking the light sauce directly, she didn’t seem to notice as her shoulders nonchalantly shrugged, “Yea, from my mother’s side… I think…” her tattooed brows quirked in a way that if anyone could see her eyes they’d notice they were looking up in thought before the girl shrugged again, “He’s the head of one of the sections working with seals, so he was lecturing me while looking over that Kusa girl…”

Stiffly Uenkai turned to stare at the younger girl, his tan skin seeming a bit paler then a second ago.

Another fried noodle disappeared, “What?”

Teal eyes blinked, “Wait… isn’t that desk clerk your maternal grandmother?”

“Mmhmm?” Yorihi hummed in her throat as she brow-glared at Bachiko who had his tongue out and licking sauce… before taking another fried noodle and dipping it herself.

“So that means…” the older boy blinked as his mind put the pieces together…

“My mother’s parents,” munch, “Yes…”

For the longest time Uenkai just stared forward with a weird look on his face caught somewhere between appalled and astonished, “Oh god… your mother must be…”

“Dead,” came the quick flat response from the boy’s right.

Uenkai blinked, shocked momentarily then turned to the girl who’d just said that so flatly and without emotion.

She was batting away her cat while trying to finish off the friend noodles but answered her teammate’s unasked question, “I’m not stupid, I know everyone around me has been guessing who my mother is,” a small frown crossed her pale face, “I just never felt the need to correct them,” she ate the last of the fried noodles, pushing the dish aside so Bachiko could finish up the sauce while she spent the moment chewing remembering the backstory Reki-baba and the others had come up with. In all honesty she wasn’t opposed to it since it still fit with what little she remembered of her biological mother, “She died when I was little, I don’t really know how, just that I couldn’t see shortly after and Kemui-sama took care of me from there along with my Father…” something she’d both learned and had been taught, the best lies come from the truth.

For the longest time there was silence between the two, long enough for Yorihi’s order of noodles to show up and the younger girl thanked the red haired chef, paid, and dug in.

“I didn’t know,” finally the older boy’s voice cut in.

After slurping a few noodles the girl swallowed, “ ** _Very_** few do.”

Teal eyes turned to watch the blind girl as she ate, “Why did you tell me?”

There was a light shrug as the girl finished that mouthful, “It just came up,” another slurp, “And also… you told me about your mother…”

Uenkai let that slip into his mind, the idea that he probably just heard a big secret and it was something so integral to his teammate. A light smile made its way onto his lips and he covered it by running his hand under his nose, “Well, back to important things,” idly he stirred the remaining noodles in his bowl as he glanced over at his partner, “Sensei was pretty pissed you didn’t hand the stuff over to them…”

“Hmp,” the blind girl shrugged swallowing her food, “How’d they react?”

A sour look passed the teal haired boy’s face, “Didn’t really, but… there was just something about their eyes, I could tell they weren’t happy…”

“Did you tell my Grandmother or my Father?” Yorihi’s brows were flat as her mind was processing this information.

“Yea,” the older boy nodded, “After I told sensei, even if they said it was unnecessary, that they’d do it…”

The younger girl snorted, “It doesn’t hurt to repeat information,” then she went back to her noodles, everything seemed in place.

Uenkai just frowned looking at what remained of his, “Yorihi,” his voice came out low and solemn, catching the girl’s attention, “How could you…” he bit his lower lip as a frown spread, not sure he even wanted to say it out loud.

“She was a threat to Kumo,” the blind girl’s words came out stiff and hollow, they were the reason and nothing more.

Teal eyes turned on her, scrunched at the edges as the boy tried to understand why it was so easy for her, why it meant nothing to her. He could find nothing, so simply went back to his meal.

\-----

_Thwack!!_

A young genin of about eleven and a half grit her teeth, bringing down one of her swords in a two handed chop.

_Thwack!_

Her tattooed brows furrowed, hiding under the hitae-ate that hide her eyes, ones that could see the entire field around her in an instant but not for a moment left her feeling secure.

_Thwack-Thwack-shing!_

A short combo left the stone post she had been practicing on barely more than dented as the girl growled her own frustrations, finally lowering the sword and panting hard.

“So,” a deep bellowing voice, devoid of its usual cheer called her from behind, without moving she could see it was her direct Commander, Raiga. The old hulking man was sitting on a long ago knocked over pillar, legs spread with his elbows resting on his knees as he stared at her slightly hunched. Even relaxed the Liger Commander was ready to pounce, “I see you actually do draw those swords on occasion…”

Yorihi panted a moment more, letting her breathing calm down even if her frustration wasn’t, “Only…” a deep breathe, still not facing the man, “Only during training…” the grip on her sword tightened as her whole body stilled, a beautiful precision Raiga knew had to of taken years to perfect. His icy eyes got to take in a rare moment, the youngest in his Company practicing with her mysterious blades. After a swift, silent combo that left the practice pillar nicked he could tell she was good with them… on a normal day.

The old Commander frowned, “Your stance is wide, you swing is slow, and the cut is shallow,” glancing around while rubbing his furry beard the man noticed many stone pillars that were cleanly cut through, “Obviously you can do better than that…”

The young genin growled, gripping tightening on the lacquered handle of her blade.

“It’s been two days,” the old Liger said idly.

“Sensei gave us three off,” her voice was flat as she went into another frustrated combo, the motions seeming hollow as her blade barely made a dent.

“Hrmmm…” there was a rumble from the old soldier’s chest, icy eyes traveling from the cut down pillars to the one nicked. The blade she was using was the one from the top left, the longest of her blades and to be honest looked quite unwieldy in the hands of a kid. The blade was beautiful, precise, with a slight curl at the end, he’d seen blades like that before… they weren’t meant to be used like that, “Give it a rest girl,” there was another clang of metal on stone, causing the man to wince, “That blade won’t cut anything so long as you’re using it wrong…”

There was a final clang, only instead of the worn blade hitting rock it was another kind of steel. Yorihi had her blade down in her right hand while her forehead rested against the stone pillar, her headband meeting the stone and likely scuffing, “Why won’t it work…”

“Hrmph,” the old Commander grunted, “I’m not much of a sword fighter but even I know you gotta listen to your sword,” he noticed the girl turn slightly towards him, she was listening at least, “Right now that blade is outta tune, you need to let it sing…”

A pale thumb rubbed along the smooth lacquered handle, “How do I make it sing again?”

Something serious crossed Raiga’s eyes and he wished the girl could see it, “You have to get rid of what’s weighing down your heart first…”

The hand on the girl’s sword tightened as he could see her whole body shudder, even if it was small and obviously she was trying to repress it.

A frown passed the dark skinned man’s face, “I don’t care what _others_ might think, you did good Chibi-Oni…” his fuzzy greyed brows lowered, hoping she heard in his voice everything that was on his face, “As a Hunter, as a Genin, we don’t expect you to bring in shinobi. Bandits maybe, weapons of warlords, even the odd villager with a dormant bloodline or skill,” a chipped smirk found its way on to his face, “You brought in a hostile shinobi, killed her yourself without hesitation because of the threat she posed to Kumo…”

“She wasn’t a threat…” the hand not holding her sword had come up and was tracing the old wounds on the stone pillar, her voice weak and shaky.

“Not from what I read,” the man stated firmly. In his mind, after reading the report, and the findings from R&D the girl had done the right thing, neutralizing an enemy weapon before it could be brought into their borders and done them harm. She had noticed a threat and despite it not being explicit in her orders had handled it without hesitation or question. In his mind she was an excellent soldier, “You did the right thing,” the smirk came back, “Even more so delivering that body directly to R&D along with your target.” It wasn’t required, especially by genin, to deal with R&D personally. Typically Jounin handled that as they had the clearance to even enter the building, let alone _deal_ with how creepy the place felt. According to the report by both herself and her partner; the moment Yorihi had stepped foot in the Village she’d headed straight to R &D and handed both scrolls over to someone she trusted within R&D. The girl had good instincts and as her superior Raiga was proud of that.

“But…” the girl’s hand clinched on the rock and he could hear her gnaw her bottom lip for a second before continuing, “But Sensei wasn’t pleased, I had over stepped my boundaries, skipping their authority-”

“Fuck their authority,” the old Liger said it loud and proud, causing the girl to jump and finally turn towards him, worry made abundantly obvious by her raised tattooed brows. Raiga furrowed his own fuzzy brows, snorting in an aggressive way, “The only authority you should care about is mine and your father’s, got it.”

“Yes, sir!” automatically she stood at attention, chirping the line, but Raiga could tell the girl meant it. She was earnest, honest, and brash, but when she showed respect it was genuine, as she only gave respect where she deemed it due. Another thing he liked about her.

“Hmp,” the fuzzy salt and pepper head nodded firmly, “I’ve had half a mind to think there’s something odd about that Shibu character, and it’s not just that you can’t tell if it’s a chick or a dude…” tattooed brows quirked but the Commander of Company H completely ignored it. The large Liger stood slowly, grunting slightly before standing tall and looking at the girl, taking in everything about her. Her stance, her weapons, her plate-covered eyes, “You’ve got good instincts, do what they tell you to do, is that understood Chibi-Oni?”

“Yes sir…” her voice trailed as she repeated the phrase, much more subdued but solemn. There was reverence in her voice for his guidance, he could tell, even if she didn’t seem to fully believe it.

“Hrm…” he made a big display of twisting up his lips and rubbing his beard in thought, “Something still bothering you kid?”

For a moment the young girl’s head tilted up at him, as if looking in his eyes, before it dropped and she said in a low voice, “What about my…” the chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, “My partner?”

“Hmp!” the large Liger grunted, crossing his arms only _slightly_ disapproving, “If that boy knows what’s good for him, he won’t let this get to him…”

“But I-!!” Yorihi pressed forward, her tattooed brows furrowed as the grip on her sword tightened.

“You did what any other Shinobi worth their breath should have,” the large, grisly old soldier spoke firmly, those icy blue eyes pinning the girl to the spot, “If that _boy_ has any problem…” there was a growl as those icy eyes became daggers, “Then he should consider his position _very_ carefully…”

“Raiga-Taichou?” the girl’s shoulders slumped slightly, not fully understanding his words.

“Hmp,” again the giant Liger snorted, turning to his right and taking a few steps before throwing over his shoulder, “You did good Chibi-Oni, don’t doubt or forget that…”

… And with that the Commander of Company H left his subordinate, to the stone, her swords, and her own thoughts.

\-----

Yorihi growled as she ran her fingers over the note again. It was slipped under her door and in his neat, slightly smudged, handwriting.

‘ _Surprise training with Sensei… gone for the week, you’re instructed to train as well.’_

She’d finally balled the damn thing up and threw it at the counter she sat on. It had been a good few months since the whole thing with the Kusa-Konoichi and while Yorihi had thought things were going back to normal, after a small disagreement with their sensei and Raiga-Taichou cheering her up, but apparently she was the only one. Kumori-kun had started getting some ‘extra’ training from their sensei leaving her to bouts of boredom and doing stuff on her own. She’d even taken a few spare missions from Raiga-taichou that were simple enough she could handle herself. Now it seemed she was going to have _another_ week of relative boredom, meaning likely another trivial mission or babysitting for her family, which arguably was the better of the two.

Forcefully she grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the receptacle, bringing them to her mouth and ripping them apart without a care.

“Ya know Princess,” a certain snarky genin took up the seat to Yorihi’s left, sliding in smoothly with that familiar superior grin on her face, red eyes speaking of mischief, “Breaking them like that is just asking for bad luck…”

“Feh,” a rougher voice called from Yorihi’s other side, as an older genin with a sword strapped to her back roughly threw herself on the stool, “Far as I can tell this girl never learned the meaning of the word ‘self-control’, OI!! CAN I GET SOME FOOD HERE!!” Karui waved down the shop owner, quickly scaring the man as she mouthed off several dishes and topped it off with a glare from her gold eyes.

Xiao winced, somehow still managing to keep the grin on her face as their senior seemed to order everything on the menu, “Thanks I guess for ordering for us too…?”

“Pfft,” again the elder girl sat roughly in her chair opposite her juniors, “That was all for me, you can order for yourself pinky…”

Red eyes glared but she put it aside for the moment, red eyes traveling to her friend, “What’s up Princess, been awhile since anyone’s seen you?” there was some snark from the other side of the younger girl, garnering a red and gold glare off.

Yorihi of course completely ignored both of them, setting down her badly broken chopsticks and leaning on one hand while the two of them glared over her, “Nothing, just been busy Xiao-chan…”

“Yea no kidding,” somehow Karui had managed to steal some fried dumplings from over the counter, pouring some sauce on one side of the plate and dipping them before eating, speaking in between bites, “S’been like… what? At least three months… since any’a us seen hide nor hair of ya…” she paused momentarily to suck on her thumb, some of the sauce got on it, “Least for a second, yer always off training with that hot partner of yours or off god knows where…” suddenly the older teen was leaning in close to the pale girl, gold eyes sly, “So seriously, you guys doin’ anything? Cause Omoi won’t shut up about it, so figured I’d ask-”

“Senpai!!” Xiao slammed her hand on the counter, causing a momentary silence in the establishment. “Er…” red eyes glanced around and the girl’s dark cheeks became even darker before that typical bedside manner her family was known for spoke up, “What’re you all lookin’ at!! This is a private conversation!!” in a second the place was back to being busy, the other customers back to their own business, though there were a few obvious quips about red eyes and loud mouths.

Against her mood, Yorihi snorted at the comments she was hearing and how badly her closest friend was blushing, not that the medic-wannabe would ever admit it.

A dark skinned elbow shoved the pale younger girl in the ribs, “Shut up Princess…” this of course only caused the princess of Kumo to laugh even harder.

Gold eyes watched the two junior genin for a second, smirk rising on her own lips before she went back to her food. Her sensei Killer Bee had it right, there was never really a dull moment with his niece, “So hey,” the other two quieted down from chuckling and growling, “Ya gonna answer my question?”

And like that Yorihi’s mood was back down as she gave a halfhearted shrug, “Just been busy…”

“Missions?” Xiao leaned over the counter a bit closer to her friend, concern obvious on her face even if it looked more serious than worried.

“Boys?” Karui asked almost immediately after, not paying attention, at least not obviously, and just finishing up her fried dumplings. This earned her a red eyed glare that she just threw a hand up in a gestured form of ‘what?!’ while still eating.

“Both,” Yorihi groaned between the two of them, setting her head on the counter.

Red and dusky pink brows went up as the two gave different variations of, “What?!” “Huh?!”

Without a word the blind girl reached out, grabbing the balled up piece of paper and held it above her head, not really caring which of them took it.

Both other Konoichi made a grab for it, Karui being that much faster in her snatching as she grinned cheekily at ‘wining’, enjoying watching the junior girl fume silently before unraveling the ball and reading the relatively neat scrawl. A frown formed on her face instantly as she tossed the paper above the blind girl, “What an asshole…”

Raising a dusky pink brow at such a response, Xiao grabbed the paper and read it herself, being slightly confused by the contents and why it’d piss off their senior, “I don’t get it?” she set the paper down, leaning on the counter and staring at her friend, “Is today important or anything?”

Karui’s hands went up in silent offense, like the answer was obvious.

Yorihi just groaned, grabbing the paper and balling it up again and tossing it back on the counter, “No, just training…”

“Again, _Asshole!_ ” those offended dark hands remained up.

Red eyes glared, “It’s just training with their sensei, what’s the big deal?”

The older swordswoman-in-training dropped her hands as she turned enough to give the junior-medic-wannabe a flat golden glare, “Seriously, you don’t get it?” at the continued huff and red eyed glare, Karui continued, limiting herself to only throwing up _one_ hand, “We haven’t seen these two in _months_ without the other, either cause they’re training or off stealing stuff…”

“Appropriating,” Yorihi momentarily cut in to ‘correct’ her senior. It was about a month into the start of their genin careers, at least for Yorihi, Xiao and Oku, before the three had had a chance to sit down and talk about what they were doing. Team Killer Bee had stumbled upon the meeting along with Mei and her partner, and the lot of genin discussed the Companies they were in, whatever ‘tests’ they had to pass, or just the general insanity of their instructors or Company Commanders. It was unanimously decided Yorihi and Uenkai were ‘Team Steal’s Stuff’, Xiao and Oku were ‘Team Blow shit up!’ as the dusky pinkette openly complained they’d done little more than demolitions, Karui and Omoi were ‘Team Slice and Dice’ partly because it rhymed and that’s really all they did, Karui mouthing off loudly she took great offence by that simplification, and Mei and her partner were ‘Team Bodyguard’ as all her stories consisted of escort missions, Mei complaining that was all Company J did, ‘go off and move people from point A to B while being pincushions and target practice for bad guys…’ her partner had silently agreed. It had been a ‘fun’ impromptu meeting of both older and newer genin teams, everyone there being people Yorihi cared about around her age so it had meant quite a bit to her.

Now everything was different, or it felt that way… even if it wasn’t _really_ different… just felt like a long time ago.

Tuning back into the conversation the ‘blind’ girl noticed Karui rolled her eyes, “Admit it, you just guys just steal stuff,” after a short second the younger girl just shrugged, “but as I was saying,” gold eyes narrowed, “You and that teal haired hottie have been joined at the hip practically… now all’a sudden you get this message?” a dark hand pointed at the crumpled ball of paper, “And are now moping at an open restaurant when you should be off training,” Karui waved her hand out flat as her gold eyes met red ones, “If that doesn’t sound like a breakup, I dunno what is…”

It sounded like something metal hit the wood counter hard.

Luckily Xiao was the one to respond, primarily by rolling her eyes and ignoring her friend, “You have _got_ to be kidding me…” red eyes glared at the senior konoichi, “There is _no way_ the Princess here ever went out with that guy, A. she’s too young…”

“Thank you,” Yorihi threw a hand up while keeping her head on the counter.

“B.” Xiao had her hand out, counting off her ‘reasons’, “Uenkai is way too hot for her,” again that sound of metal hitting wood, “C. she’s blind, there’s no way she could appreciate that hotness…”

A pale hand rose just enough to show Xiao a hand sign the girl had learned from her Grandmother a long, long time ago.

Karui was cracking up on the other side.

Xiao was just smirking, somehow just knowing her _friend_ would know she was just screwing with her, but where would the fun be in slowing down, “and D.” that devious smirk Yorihi swore made Xiao in some way related to her Grandmother, passed the older girl’s dark face, “This little _kid_ has absolutely no idea what goes on between men and women, let alone how to get into a relationship…”

The two older girl’s high fived over the youngest one, matching grins thinking she couldn’t see.

“Xiao!!” the young Raikage’s Daughter growled at her _friend_ , raising her head and looking in the dusky pinkette’s direction, obviously about to throttle her.

“Here’s your order ladies!” luckily Xiao was saved by the proverbial bell, as both Yorihi’s food and a chunk of Karui’s finally showed up. Without thinking Yorihi nudged her plate closer to Xiao, knowing her friend would just steal from her anyway.

“Hehe,” the young wannabe medic grinned, taking a dumpling, “No hard feelings?”

Yorihi just growled, grabbing one herself before shoving it in her mouth and eating, not saying a word until she’d finished as she actually _had_ manners unlike some people!! “You joke around too much…”

A dark elbow nudged the younger girl, “And you’re way too serious,” before eating her own stolen dumpling.

Hidden white eyes rolled causing her tattooed brows to twitch in a way that gave it away, making Xiao chuckle in response. The two younger genin momentarily glanced to their right, noticing Karui was in her own little world of food.

“I don’t get how she does it…” Xiao nibbled the remains of her dumpling, “I burn a lot of calories with my training but nowhere near that much…”

Yorihi just shrugged, going back to her food with a slight smirk, “higher metabolism?”

“Must be,” a smirk passed the older girl’s lips, “Seeing as once she gets older it’s all going to go to her ass!!”

Karui’s only response was to raise her free hand and flip the younger medic wannabe the bird like Yorihi had earlier.

Red eyes rolled, “the both of you, so cultured…”

Yorihi just shrugged, smirk growing, “We’re Kumo,” before going back to her dumplings.

The trio continued their eating and joking one another for a little while until a harried boy with pale blonde dreads came in looking for his partner. A _small_ fight ensued as Karui was more interested in finishing her meal then doing whatever next insane thing their sensei wanted them to do, _especially_ if it involved his rapping, while Omoi got slightly side tracked by seeing ‘Kumo’s Princess’ again. Throughout the entire exchange Yorihi felt mostly uncomfortable not getting Omoi’s strange attitude or questions. Xiao of course was very little help as she just kept laughing, even more so when the situation became reversed as in her opinion the red head got jealous, maybe threw a thing of chicken in peanut sauce at her partner and stormed off, forcing him to pay  and chase after her.

Yorihi had looked mostly confused, quickly finishing her small meal, paying and leaving with a chuckling Xiao trailing after her.

When they got a few feet away from the shop Xiao turned to her friend, smirk never leaving, “So that was amusing…”

Yorihi just shrugged, setting her hands comfortably on her swords, “Those two always seem to act like that, Omoi-kun always spouting nonsense that pisses off Karui-chan, they get in a fight and she storms off, him following her…”

A dusky pink brow rose as the smirk grew on Xiao’s face, “I’m honestly surprised you got that much…”

The blind girl snorted, “I’m a lot more observant then you think, Xiao-chan.”

The smirk softened as Xiao crossed her arms, “I know that Princess,” she stopped walking, forcing Yorihi to stop as she stood in front of her and looked down at the younger girl with serious red eyes, “What’s been going on with you and your partner?”

The hand on the pale girl’s top right sword tightened slightly, “Nothing.”

Red eyes narrowed on the girl as Xiao’s patented ‘Mom Glare’ came into use, “Yorihi, you just tightened your grip on your swords, you only do that when you’re nervous or upset,” the statement caused the pale girl’s cheeks to darken a little, resulting in the older girl’s eyes to narrow more, “I’ve known you long enough to tell when something’s bothering you, whether you want to admit it or not…”

The younger girl bit the inside of her lip, turning away slightly, “Is that why you showed up with Karui-chan?”

Xiao stood straighter, looking down at the girl, “Partly, though I think she was just looking to get some food,” absently she scratched the side of her cheek, mostly annoyed at the older konoichi’s unprofessionalism, “Though even she noticed something’s been up with you and has been worried.”

Yorihi ruffled her shoulders, “how so?”

Red eyes turned flatly on the girl, wishing a million ways she could see it, “Because she wasn’t going on about all that ‘Rival’ bullshit she normally does when she’s within five feet of you,” without thinking Xiao reached out and swatted at the younger girl’s dark blue bangs, knowing it was one of the few ways to guarantee her attention.

As if on cue Yorihi growled, swatting away Xiao’s dark hand and trying to ‘straighten’ her usually rough bangs.

The older girl smirked.

Yorihi just kept growling, turning slightly away from the older girl, “It’s nothing Xiao-chan,” pushing back her bangs with her hand the stubborn girl seemed to finally relent, “We just…”she sighed deeply, “We just had a bad mission…”

The smirk immediately left the dark skinned girl’s face, concern and seriousness etching themselves in its place, “Was someone hurt? Did you guys fail?” unconsciously Xiao reached out to grab the shorter girl’s shoulder, wanting to grab her and turn her around… but something held her back, her fingers were barely an inch away from the younger girl’s shoulder but couldn’t make the extra leap.

Yorihi just shook her head, taking a step away, “No, it… nothing like that,” she finally brought the hand down from her bangs and just sort of slumped, “Have you guys…” her hand tightened on her swords as she turned enough to be facing Xiao’s direction, “In your missions… have you or Oku-kun had to… do anything… _serious_?”

“Have we killed anyone?” red eyes were still as Xiao looked at her friend seriously, understanding what was going on.

The blind girl just chewed her bottom lip and nodded silently.

There was a light sigh, “No,” Xiao said quickly, closing her eyes as her brows furrowed, obviously thinking of something in her recent past, “We haven’t _had_ to kill anyone,” when she opened her eyes they were soft, distant, obviously thinking of something heavy, “Most of our missions have been demolitions, stuff Oku’s good at, I’ve just kind of been his backup… and…”

“And?” there was something oddly desperate in the younger girl’s voice.

Xiao looked up and focused on the girl at the word, “And… we’ve seen people die,” her hands twitched in her crossed arms, “I dunno what it is, maybe it’s because I’ve trained with my family, seen the kinds of injuries we get in the field and the kind of damage our stuff does, but sometimes…” the look on her face pulled tighter as she looked away, “his bombs and traps really make a mess of people, cutting off arms, blowing off limbs… we haven’t killed anyone directly yet, but…” it was obvious her hands clinched as her red eyes unfocused again, “I know it gets to him, and I know he’s gonna have to get used to the idea, but I…”

“Just don’t want him to have to?” Yorihi finished for her friend, reaching out, ignoring the distance between them and grabbing the girl’s crossed arms. Knowing, understanding what was running through her friend’s head.

Without a word Xiao just nodded.

Yorihi squeezed her hand, “Someone once told me ‘the shock fades but the feel of loss never does’, and they were right,” it didn’t take long for Yorihi to see those intelligent red eyes rise, confused at first, but quickly putting the pieces together. For whatever reason this made the blind girl smile slightly. She grabbed one of Xiao’s hands with both of hers, staring at her friend through the plate covering her eyes, “but most importantly that we should never forget that pain, because it means we’re alive, and that we are not monsters.” Yorihi’s voice trembled at the end but she recited Tougemichi’s words. They had meant so much to her at the time and especially now. She knew the old Assassin was right, but it still hurt.

There were tears forming at the corners of Xiao’s red eyes and Yorihi could easily fill in the rest. Quickly the older girl raised her free hand to wipe them away before they even fell, releasing her hand, taking a step away and taking a deep breath. She chuckled, putting her hands on her hips, “You really are something, Princess.”

Yorihi just shrugged, turning to stand next to her friend, “Its good advice.”

“Yea…” a dark hand rose to rub the back of it across the girl’s cheek. She sniffled lightly, breathing in deep as something of a small chuckle loosed from her lips, “Heh, you’re way too good at changing the subject…”

A smirk pulled at the edges of Yorihi’s lips, “I learned from the best…”

This time Xiao laughed a bit louder, it wasn’t a full hardy laugh as she wiped away some tears that escaped but there was something genuinely happy about it, “So, you gonna talk to him?”

A frown passed the pale girl’s face, “When he decides to stop being a stuck-up jackass and sticking around long enough for me to say something.”

Again Xiao chuckled, red eyes glancing at the younger girl, tone coming out flatter than her previous laughter would have made one expect, “Him or you?”

There was an obvious pout as the blind girl stared ahead, understanding the question, “Me,” her hand gripped her sword as her voice lowered, “Though I don’t think that’s the real issue…”

A dusky pink brow rose, “What makes you say that?”

“Something…” the young girl shook her head, “Something sensei said…” her shoulder ruffled as she was obviously either confused or uncomfortable about the subject, “It just… didn’t sit well with me…”

Serious red eyes glanced at the blind girl, “What was it?”

Another ruffle, “They… they called me a ‘killer’…”

“You’re not!” that dark hand finally made its way to Yorihi’s shoulder, causing the younger girl to look up at her friend.

There was a twitch on the side of the younger girl’s lips before she shook her head, “Not the point,” she faced forward, cyan tattooed brows flat like she was thinking of something serious, “it wasn’t so much _what_ was said, as _how_ it was said…”

A dusky pink brow quirked as Xiao looked at her friend curiously, “And how’s that?”

Yorihi turned to her friend, face serious, “Like they were trying to goad Kumori-kun?”

That dusky pink brow rose higher as Xiao let go of the girl and mused herself, “That’s kinda weird…” a glint caught in the girl’s red eyes and she looked up to see the sun over the mountains, “Shit,” a frown passed Xiao’s face before she turned to Yorihi, “Look, I gotta go, mission report, you gonna be okay?”

“Mm,” the blind girl nodded, hand loosening on her sword, “I’ll be fine Xiao-chan,” she nodded her chin in the general direction of away, “You go, I’ll handle this…”

Xiao pat the smaller girl on the shoulder taking a step forward, smirking, “Your partner or your sensei?”

A smile passed the blind girl’s pale face as she watched her friend move away, “Both, probably,” absently she waved.

“Heh,” a dark hand waved as the medic wannabe twirled around, waving and running off, “Stay safe!”

For a long minute Yorihi kept waving quietly, then once her friend was out of earshot mumbled to herself, “Yea…” a frown spread across her face as the young konoichi got serious, “right.”

\-----

It was late, the moon shining in a lowland forest. It was quiet, an uncomfortably warm breeze that his cold skin didn’t register.

Teal eyes stared at red.

“Good,” a clipped apathetic voice called from a few feet ahead.

Uenkai was staring at his hands, unable to look away from the thick coating of red all over them.

“You finally got that out of your system,” the ambiguous jounin moved slightly to the side, nudging one of the three bodies on the ground. They each had a headband but in the reflection of the moon it was obscured.

Uenkai just continued staring at his hands, they started shaking as his legs gave out, landing on his knees without feeling. He had killed them… because he was told to… because he _had_ to… - _Because I’m_ supposed _to…_ -

Shibu breathed out a warm breathe, “You’re going to get used to it…” for the smallest of moments a distasteful frown passed their face, “All the Raikage are brutal monsters.”

For some reason that snapped Uenkai out of his catatonia, “Yorihi’s not!!”

In an instant the younger boy was on his back, long katana blade at his throat shining in the moonlight as his sensei loomed over him. Their face was neutral in a frightening way, dark eyes smoldering with an unshown fury as their pale hand gripped the front of the boy’s partial hoodie.

“That _girl_ will not be Raikage,” the words were spoken with such venom it was amazing they didn’t choke on them.

Teal eyes widened slightly as the young genin shook unconsciously, faced with the sight of a _real_ killer inches away from taking his life. He’d told Yorihi he had wanted to die with his partner, now faced with such a possibility his body screamed for life. There were things he’d yet to do, foods he’d yet to eat, and for some reason… his mind kept coming back to that arrogant little girl.

As if sensing the boy’s thoughts the bluish platinum brows under the Kumo bandana twitched down the slightest, Shibu’s thin frown spreading, “Do you want to die for that girl?”

“NO!!” the response was automatic, surprising Uenkai as much as pleasing his sensei. He was afraid… to die.

“Hmp,” with a swift nick to the boy’s throat the older jounin stood up, flicking their blade and walking away, “For a moment it looked like you’d already given up to her,” they turned back momentarily to stare flatly at the downed boy, “If you **_ever_** give in to her… be prepared to die brutally,” the frown spread on Shibu’s face as they turned away from their foolish student, “Anyone from that line is only a monster…”

Managing to push himself up, Uenkai didn’t know why he spoke, “But sensei…”

“That is enough!” their voice was low but held a bite to it that spoke of no questions. An ominous click of the katana being sheathed was the only sound afterwards, “We’re done here.” With that the jounin quickly disappearing, expecting their student to be able to find their way back.

“Yes…” Uenkai’s shoulders slumped, his hands falling to his lap. Teal stared down at the blood on his hands, to the bodies of the ones he had killed… was it really worth it? “Sensei…”

\-----

The next few days were a little hectic, Yorihi had been dragged into ‘family business’ since her Grandmother found out her partner and sensei were off on a training mission. ‘Family business’ meaning it was her turn to basically do all the bitch-work the Gakushins threw around at each other. For Reki it was _doing her job_ since her normal assistant decided **_He_** wanted to take a break, Reki had laughed apparently at his overly frustrated red face. For Mei it was helping her clean out her room. For Jun it was helping with a few odd jobs, each of which oddly enough Yorihi noted had them run into her Kouhai, Mabui often starting with a snide comment to Jun before breaking out into a cute fluster when she realized he wasn’t alone. And most importantly, of all the above jobs, it meant it was her turn to _finally_ , Mei’s words, babysit Sutego while they all went and ‘did things’.

This job Yorihi would loudly admit far and wide was her favorite. While even her Father, Uncle, ‘Aunt’ and even Grandfather had _also_ given her odd little jobs to do pertaining to things they did, mostly training from the first three, though Uzushio-jiji’s seemed to mostly involve having a second opinion on a new type of ramen he was making, babysitting her Little Brother was perhaps the best of the odd jobs given.

It made Yorihi realize just how _long_ a few months could be. Sure she’d been off doing ‘acquisition’ missions left and right with her partner and constantly training to keep up her skills and improve them, along with whatever insanity her family decided to throw at her, by this point she fully included Xiao, Oku, Karui and Omoi in this as they too liked to _interfere_ with her life with ‘odd jobs’ as well. But not Sutego, and by extension his mother.

Babysitting the nearly five year old little boy made Yorihi realize just _how much_ she had missed seeing her teacher on a daily basis. From what her Father could tell her Kemui-sama was back to doing her ‘normal’ missions, as in the ones she used to do even _before_ Yorihi herself had been in Kumo. It seemed Kumo’s last assassin really was busy doing whatever it was she did outside the village to keep it safe. Yorihi was convinced neither her Father or Grandmother had any _real_ idea what Kemui did when she’d be gone for months, but thanks to her time with Tougemichi, Yorihi had a decent idea. She was keeping the village safe alright, likely disrupting or taking out threats as they appeared while keeping up and maintaining a large list of contacts that likely had thought whatever persona she’d taken up to meet them was dead. It would take a while to reestablish whatever credibility and tie up loose ends but the young girl supposed that’s what happened when you took an extended leave of absence to take on an entirely different kind of job: raising a kid.

Though she made no motion of it Yorihi glanced down at Sutego through her headband. He was a happy, polite little boy as far as she or anyone could tell, but there were a few quirks about him that Yorihi was convinced only she or her Father would pick up, things that were distinctly from his mother. Yorihi had a hard time remembering herself at that age, the Nibi had jumbled up a number of things around that time, but she knew she was curious and observant. Sutego seemed to have his own level of intelligence for his age with keen eyes that watched everything for so many small details even Yorihi had a hard time picking some of them up. Though he always smiled, happy to do what he could to help…

“Ano, Y-Yorihi-sama?” the little boy’s voice broke through the older girl’s thinking.

“Hmm?” she leaned an ear towards him signaling she was listening.

The little white haired boy pouted momentarily, fiddling with his free hand before looking back up at the older girl, “W-why… um…” he looked down flushing slightly, “W-why h-have you been taking c-care of me, Y-Yorihi-sama?”

A tattooed brow quirked, “Why do you ask, Sutego-kun?” she lightly squeezed his hand, hoping to encourage him.

He seemed to blush a bit more, his hand fiddling with the front of his grey shirt, “K-Kaa-san u-usually leaves me with R-Reki-sama and Mei-sama and Jun-sama… n-not…” he fidgeted more, “I-if anything, R-Raikage-sama may come and take me for s-some t-training… y-you’re u-usually too busy like Yugito-oba-sama…” he started to get even more nervous when the older girl let go of his hand, for a moment he thought he’d said something wrong…

The older girl’s hand came to the opposite side of his head and pulled him close to her, giving an impromptu hug, “I’m sorry Sutego-kun,” Yorihi leaned in and hugged him a bit tighter, “I didn’t realize how long it’s been since I got to spend time with you…”

The vibrantly blushing little boy vigorously shook his head in the older girl’s embrace, “N-n-n-nonsense! Y-Y-Yorihi-sama i-i-is busy, s-s-she sh-should n-not worry her-herself w-with-” he was cut off as she squeezed him a bit tighter.

“Heh,” in all honesty Yorihi could not help but smile at his stuttering, it was utterly adorable, “Of course I should Sutego-kun!” finally releasing the hug the older girl crouched and held the boy at arm’s length, as if she were to be looking into his eyes but Sutego knew the Raikage’s daughter was blind and that was a ridiculous notion, even if he stared right at her headband covered eyes as was polite. Yorihi smiled brightly, probably the first she’d felt in a long while at the adorable little boy, “Never, **_ever_** think less of yourself Sutego-kun,” her palm came up and cupped his chubby cheek, “I know…” her voice softened as she realized a lot of things, “I know it’s hard, none of us sticking around that long to watch you, especially…” a lump lodged in her throat as she looked at the cute little boy, “Especially with Kemui-sama and myself gone often,” his mouth formed a cute little pout that obviously wanted to deny her words but couldn’t, “but never, **_ever_** think we don’t think about you,” out of some weird reflex Yorihi smirked, pinching his chubby cheek, “Especially since you’re my cute little brother~”

His cheeks turned so red at that declaration and it looked like he was about to cry.

Instead of opening her arms and giving him a choice which Yorihi knew the polite little boy would likely never take, she drew him in a tight hug, enjoying the familial affection likely as much as he was. She could hear him sniffle as his little hands gripped on the front of her shirt, probably trying not to cry. She could see her Uncle likely towering over the boy and saying something silly like ‘boys don’t cry’ or Yugito making a comment that it was useless to cry. This thought actually brought a smile to Yorihi’s face as she picked him up and just carried him for a bit wrapped around her chest. When she was young her Father made her laugh when she wanted to cry and her Teacher just quietly sat by her side as she did so, why would they be any different to her Little Brother? Everyone else might comment like that, but she wouldn’t.

It was things like this she wanted to protect. Small things, innocent things, things she probably should have thrown away long ago considering her life so far. She was a child grown up in a harsh world where kids could be taken away and raised somewhere else, where they could be abused and forced into horrible situations they didn’t understand or could do nothing about. She knew her life wasn’t normal, or healthy, but she was strong because of the people that had raised her, _knew_ they cared about her even if they didn’t say it. She remembered what she’d told Reki nearly a year ago:

_“… they showed me more care and kindness with their stumbling steps than anyone did the day my mother died…”_

- _Kindness_ \- to think such a thing existed in a harsh place like Kumo was almost a joke… but it was the truth. It wasn’t out in the open where others could see or judge it, in Kumo, with her family, it was the small things. Her father listening to her, patiently answering her questions. Kemui gripping her hand tighter when she held on. Bee trying to cheer her up when she was upset. Yugito telling her a story during training. Small things that added up to bonds she would only ever describe as ‘family’.

Sutego was small, young, and in many ways so much more frightened of the world then she was… he needed to know that too, learn what she had.

A smile passed the older girl’s face under her hitae-ate as she rubbed the boy’s white hair, most of his sniffles done, “Feel better?”

“Mm,” she could tell he was tightly pressing his lips together, trying not to cry again as he nodded into her should. He was a brave little boy, she’d give him that, pushing back all his fears and worries trying to not show it to those around him.

Yorihi gave him a small squeeze. If her Teacher couldn’t be around as much for him, she’d try, she owed the woman that much at least, “Hey, Shiro-kun,” she could feel the heat on his cheeks as he blushed at the informal nickname Mei usually called him. It just caused the blind girl to grin wider, “Wanna go see what my Father is up to?”

His little grin grew and he nodded a bit more vigorously. Sutego liked the large man that his mother respected most, he was kind and rough, and funny when others were around as he bossed them around.

“Heh, alright!” Yorihi held onto the boy a bit tighter, tensing her legs, “Let’s go!!” and with that she bounded up to the rooftops, leaping from each suspended building to the next towards her Father’s tower.

She’ll never forget the look on the little boy’s face as he watched the scenery buzz around him nor the smile on his face as he laughed with utter childish joy at the near-flight-like sensation. She remembered liking it a lot too as a kid.

\-----

Uenkai returned within the week as scheduled, looking worse for wear but the moment he was back the two were back to doing missions. Yorihi noticed her partner seemed like something was bugging him, tugging at the back of his mind but he seemed more focused than before. He didn’t hesitate for one. On their first mission with him back from his ‘special training’ he’d taken down a missing-nin, cut the guy’s head clean off and was the one to hand it over to their Sensei on their return. The flippancy the boy showed concerned Yorihi, mostly, but there was something off about it, like it too was fake.

Not that the blind girl didn’t have her own issues to deal with thanks to their upgraded missions. Now that their jobs contained a kill-clause she’d become more and more exposed to one of the stranger aspects of having a feline demon. Every time either she or Kumori-kun killed an opponent Bachiko would step over the body and thanks to their bond she got probably the worst case of the chills anyone could experience. For a moment it felt like something passed through her and she could feel things that weren’t her own senses. This wasn’t so much an issue until she noticed it started getting stronger, almost tangible like the feeling was memories and not just being disturbed. The only person she could talk to about it was Yugito, being the container of the Nibi, but what her aunt told her didn’t exactly comfort the young girl. Feline demons, for the lack of a better understanding, ‘ate’ souls by walking over the corpses of the fallen. The ‘fresher’ the better energy they absorbed meaning the stronger they could become. It was a complicated mess Yorihi was sure Yugito was butchering as the blonde had to be the in-between of the blind girl and a likely ranting Nibi no Nekomata.

Yorihi hadn’t felt comforted in the slightest and Bachiko had only snorted, whatever that meant.

Though it came as something of a surprise when they’d come back from another mission and as the partners were walking along the long rope bridge past the gate Uenkai had expressed his concern.

“Tenkyuu, are you alright?” the older, broader boy had turned to his partner once they were far enough from the gate to be relatively private.

“Hm?” a tattooed brow rose as the girl had gone a few steps ahead.

Uenkai frowned, crossing his arms, “You’ve been… moody, lately,” teal eyes narrowed on the girl as if he were examining her, concern etched into his stern face, “Every time we take someone out, you get this…” a tan hand ran through his short teal hair unsure, “I dunno, weird vibe, like you’re freaked out or something…” the concern was back as he stared at her, “You okay?”

Ironically the girl’s first response was to laugh. She hadn’t bothered to turn around, having gotten more used to not turning or facing things that caught her attention as it was just a waste of energy, as she took in the look on his face while she chuckled. He looked truly concerned and she was grateful she wasn’t facing him as a burning sensation passed just below her headband, “I-it’s nothing Kumori-kun,” she felt ridiculous doing it but held up a thumbs up, she’d blame her Uncle for that, “just tired or you’re seeing things…” she was honestly touched he’d noticed but it might cause problems if he got _too_ concerned.

The older boy frowned, nearly growling as his thin eyes narrowed on her again, “Hmp, just don’t let it screw with you so much,” idly he glanced to the ground, knowing he should heed his own advice.

The blind girl turned her head in his direction over his shoulder, “I’d say the same to you,” she had a bit of a sing-song to her voice, amused as he turned a bit red knowing he’d been caught. She turned sideface towards him, smirk evident but also appearing calm and just as sincere in her chastising, “I’d been meaning to ask for a while but you seemed to be… _handling_ it on your own,” unconsciously she bit the bottom of her lip as her voice lowered slightly, “How… have you been dealing with… what we do?”

Uenkai stared at her momentarily with a vulnerable open look and it was probably the most honest one she’d seen in a while before he turned to the side, jutting out his lower lip in a pout and narrowing his eyes at nothing, “I-it’s nothing… Y-Yorihi-chan…”

It was silent between them for a moment…

Then the younger girl snorted, trying to hold in her laughter as she raised one hand and miserably failed, laughing at the silly look on his face and what he’d said, “T-that’s my line!”

He turned on her with wide teal eyes, a slight blush, and after giving it a moment of thought started chuckling himself. He too realizing they’d both been worried about each other and both had the same deflecting answer. A tan hand rubbed the back of his head as he glanced at her, “We’re really something, huh?”

“Oh yea,” the pale girl gave a genuine smile before turning on her heel and back down the bridge, “C’mon, we have stuff to turn in… like usual,” she had her hands out in a nonchalant gesture, idly waving him to follow.

Uenkai just smirked, cocking his hip for a second before shaking his head, “Hey,” he called out watching her only slow her pace, resulting in a wider smile, “Want some of those sweet buns when we’re done?”

“You’re buying!!” the girl raised her hand, smirking to herself and running off down the bridge.

“H-hey!! Wait!! Yorihi!!” the older boy laughed, chasing after his childish partner.

\-----

Dango – Sweet dumplings


	5. Prayer for the Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having gotten back to good, Uenkai and Yorihi work as an effective team, with a year of experience they've got a new mission...

It was nearly a year since Yorihi had graduated and currently she was standing up in the rafters of a foreign lord’s house watching as his guards ran by underneath. Slowly she released a breath she’d been holding as she tapped the old blindfold she had wrapped around her neck. It was the old one she’d used to use to cover her eyes and while not exactly the most fashionably thing she wore it for two reasons, one being its sentimental value and two being it was a nice way to hide the radio communicator wrapped on a black band around her neck underneath the thing, “Tori this is Neko, I need a way out, over…”

“ _I still think you look more like a rabbit, and working on it, over._ ” The deeper voice of her partner mumbled into the earpiece and she had all but growled.

“ _Cut the chatter, this is a serious mission, find a way out on your own while we evac_ ,” that more piercing if quieter and calmer voice was their sensei Shibu.

Yorihi had to bite her lip and stop the growl from rising in her throat as she hit the button again, “Understood,” she didn’t bother with the ‘over’ command as their sensei tended to ruin any fun the two had. Their current mission was an A rank, more because of the pay involved, the value of the item they were meant to retrieve, and the fact it _had_ been housed in a minor lord’s vault and he had his own veritable army they needed to sneak by. All of that had been the easy part, Uenkai being her eyes outside and disabling anyone that got too close with his ethers, while she did the actual infiltration and stealing, as it was agreed between them thanks to her heightened senses she was better at picking locks and sneaking about once inside, plus she could hide in places none of the guards could see and be perfectly fine, like she was right now in the rafters. It was pitch black and unlike other shinobi she didn’t _need_ to move the ceiling tiles to know what was going on below her, she could both see it plain as day and also feel it without even trying.

The only _issue_ had been their sensei came with them during this mission, as they did with _every_ A rank mission they did to be their supervisor and save them should the danger be too much for _genin_. Now why were they doing A ranks as genin in the first place? Simple, A rank missions looked a hell of a lot better on applications for the upcoming Chuunin exams then however many C and B ranks. Uenkai had been previously recommended for Chuunin before his partner passed away, and he figured that since Yorihi was ‘special’ she’d only need about a year’s worth of experience and they’d be set to apply, throwing in some A ranks to sweeten the deal and they were pretty much guaranteed to get in. At least that was the idea.

Yorihi just rolled her hidden white eyes and placed her hand on the largest wooden post and felt out the movement going on around her. Somehow someone had tripped the alarm about the vault, as it wasn’t _her_ since she’d had Bachiko basically walk into the damn thing, disable said alarms, and then she opened it. Her finicky feline had confirmed the object they’d been after inside and they’d gotten it and into hiding before anyone was the wiser. Then all of a sudden guards were pouring out of everywhere and she’d had to scrap her original route out, thus the waiting up in the rafters. Uenkai had attempted to give her more intel on what was going on outside but it was risky as any communication could get her caught.

So Yorihi was effectively alone, grumbling to herself mentally. – _This_ always _seems to happen on A ranks…_ \- she didn’t want to suspect foul play but part of her wouldn’t put it past their sensei purposely making things more difficult, ‘just to see what they’d do’ of course.

Shaking her head she was back in mission mode and felt a large swath of people moving in one direction, likely guards chasing some mirage of Uenkai’s, giving her a way out the _other_ way. As quietly as she could she tiptoed across the rafters, sending out Bachiko ahead of her to test out the supports. The feline was a great asset in helping her maintain her stealth, guiding her away from large groups, animals she missed, and even boards that creaked too much. They’d swiftly managed to make it to the other side of the house and leaning against the back wall she extended the range of her sight through the building to get a good estimate of who was where.

- _Damnit, Kumori-kun and sensei must still be on the other side…_ \- this new route resulted in her being near the far east wall. It was higher than the other walls in this compound and she’d have to scale a decent amount before being free of it, and even then there was the likelihood of being spotted by sentries on the other walls… Uenkai had handled the ones on the _West_ side, as that had been their infiltration and extraction point.

Again pushing the growl down her throat so as not to make any noise, she focused on what sentries were out on the wall. Luckily it seemed this side was mostly a skeletal crew as most of the fussing was on the west side. – _Now to just get out of here, avoid those guards, climb that wall, and run for my life…_ \- it was aggravating but one of the stipulations of their mission had been stealth, so long as she wasn’t seen or left any viable evidence that criteria was met… so sadly this meant she could just bust through the wall with ease…

Placing her hand on the board below her she tried to feel out any other occupants in this side of the building, if she were lucky she could find and empty room and slip out the window with ease. Sadly it seemed the only room with a window on the side she needed had an occupant, a butler or maid she wasn’t entirely sure but they didn’t seem to be alerted like the guards, just going about their business…

Yorihi bit her lip, unsure of the course of action as something was crawling up her spine. – _Damnit, I don’t have a choice…_ \- she’d have to slip down, disable the servant quickly and untraceably, then jump out the window before anyone can notice a thing.

Quickly making her way above the room without a sound she waited for the servant to become distracted with whatever they were doing. It was an aggravating wait knowing that at any moment someone could run in and tell them what was happening. Finally the person seemed to turn on some device, creating enough noise as to not notice her lifting the ceiling tile, moving over slightly, replacing it then jumping down landing in a crouch.

Momentarily she flexed her hand into a fist, aiming for the neck as she jumped forward grabbing them around the neck in a sleeper hold while having her other hand around their mouth so they couldn’t speak. In a few seconds they should be asleep and she could continue on…

That’s when she felt something puncture her torso… and seconds later her arms slacked as her entire body went numb…

“I was wondering what rats were scurrying around up there…” the servant turned around, pulling off the cloth covering his purple hair as he stared down at the paralyzed girl with cold icy eyes, “To think… I’d actually find something worthwhile in this place…”

Yorihi felt to her knees, the paralyzing poison acting fast as she started moving her chakra through her body trying to push it out. She could feel Bachiko growl in her mind, he was moments away from attacking this man… without thinking she shook her head, the ‘servant’ likely thinking she was gesturing to him when really she was telling her demon cat to wait. They still had the mission, and she wanted to know what was going on…

“Hmm…” the man crouched down and grabbed the front of Yorihi’s shirt, bringing her closer, staring right at the Kumo plate covering her eyes, “Why do I think I know who you are…” his head tilted this way and that and thanks to his pause Yorihi got a chance to see the Kiri headband around his neck, tucked away under his servant’s clothes. The purple haired man grinned as he brought her up, “Oh… I know who you are… well, aren’t you a fine catch… fine catch indeed.” The man chuckled darkly before unceremoniously tossing her into a pile of fabric, bunching up the sides and making a makeshift sack, “Guess you and I should have a chat back at camp…”

Yorihi just grit her teeth, twitching her fingers, starting to get some feeling back into them. It was a start. – _“Bachiko?”_ \- the young girl called to her finicky feline companion, knowing he was following along the rafters ready to pounce the Kiri-nin. – _“Listen to me, get Kumori-kun and follow us…”_ \- immediately her mind was filled with growling and agitated images. Obviously the bakeneko did _not_ approve. If Yorihi could roll her eyes she would. – _“Just do it, if this guy plans to ‘interrogate’ me he has to do it outside this place, meaning somewhere we can get the drop on him and retain our stealth from this lord…”_ \- moving her chakra around her body she could finally make a shaky fist, the poison was burning away quicker than this likely thought meaning she had the advantage. – _“I want to know why Kiri-nin are this close to our boarder, get Kumori-kun and standby, he should still be close enough, now go!”_ \- the ghostly feline gave one last disgruntled vibe then disappeared, she could feel as his presence got further and further away.

Now that he was gone and not littering her thoughts with revenge, murder and mayhem, the young cloud Konoichi could think and observe her quiet prison of fabric. In the back of her mind it was bothering her that she was being carted around like dirty laundry but thanks to the paralytic she could keep her body from freaking out too much. This Kiri-nin recognized her, that spelled something bad to her, and she wanted to know where he got his information and why, as well as get a good ‘look’ at his forces and why they were in a boarder country. Was Kiri **_really_** thinking to attack Kumo? Weren’t they still in a civil war… and more over why were they here, at this low level lord’s place? Were they looking for the object she’d stolen as well?

… or were they waiting for her?

She finally got enough feeling back in her hands to form fists and slowly move her hands up near her throat. She didn’t like the idea that someone set her up but it wasn’t as if it was completely unreasonable. She was the Raikage’s daughter, any other Village would want her as a hostage and either this Kiri-nin had been informed of her immunity to vaporized poisons or the bastard was just lucky he used a needle. She needed to know.

Finally managing to click the button on her radio she turned the thing on, now whatever was happening around her would be transmitted to Uenkai so long as he was within range. After that effort was expended she let her hands drop, waiting and listening to her surroundings as her captor seemed to move about freely around the low level lord’s home, breezing past guards and other servants as if this was normal.

Soon enough the laundry bag was thrown on a cart and she could hear the Kiri-nin making some excuse to some gate guards about disposing of soiled sheets or something. The guards seemed way too laid back in her opinion but quickly they left the low level lord’s home and she could hear wilderness soon enough. She started counting the clips of horse hooves while channeling her chakra through her body, meditating to conserve her energy in preparation for whatever was to come.

After about five hundred steps the pain started setting in. – _Bachiko…_ \- it meant the horse carriage was leaving the range of their bond and for whatever reason Uenkai and her ghost cat weren’t following. – _What’s going on?_ \- without thinking she whispered both to herself and hoping the radio still worked, “Just follow him…”

The pain disrupted her sense of time and her hoof-count. It even messed up her chakra control, meaning whatever was left of the paralytic was stuck and she’d feel drowsy until it all burned out naturally.

Luckily or unluckily depending on how one looked at it, the carriage stopped and the laundry bag was picked up, a few steps, and an open door later and she was being tossed on the floor.

Her first instinct was to get a layout as well as grab a weapon. It seemed she was in a simple shack, there were a few people outside, it was still daylight, and the only person inside the shack was her captor. Her shaky hazy body managed to grab a knife, waiting for him to step closer…

“Not so fast Kumo,” the Kiri-nin kicked out her hand, knocking the kunai out of her weakened grip and crouched over her, “Now I’m going to be a nice guy so long as you don’t try anything stupid,” he dropped his knees onto her hands, preventing her from moving due to the weight causing the girl to grit her teeth. He reached back behind him, unbuckling her holster for her swords as well as some of her other equipment.

Yorihi growled and struggled more…

“Hey!” the man put on finger on the center of her forehead, keeping her head still, “I’m not doing anything like that, I have some class young lady,” he grabbed the front of her shirt, pulling her up with one hand as he stood, kicking her discarded equipment to the side of the room, unamused frown on his face as he looked directly at her plate covered eyes, “Now I know some of my men would _love_ to have a chance to spend five minutes with you while the paralytic is still in effect, even if you’re just a kid, but I’m not one of them,” he set her down in one of the few chairs in the mostly bare room, moving around her, pulling out a wire and securing her hands behind her back.

“Tch,” Yorihi growled, forcing herself to not react more than necessary, she didn’t want to give away that the poison was mostly gone from her system, “You just lost a major threat…”

“Hmp,” the man tightened the bindings behind her unnecessarily, they were cutting into her wrists more than necessary as he moved to secure her legs, “Well, would that have worked on you little missy?”

Yorihi just clinched her jaw and faced away from him.

“That’s what I thought,” the purple haired man stood up after finishing the bindings, finally taking the moment to take off the servant’s uniform, showing his under-armor and more shinobi-esque wear along with his headband around his neck. He crossed his arms and looked down at the Kumo girl with stern ice blue eyes, “I hear they break you guys in while you’re still in the academy,” a smirked as the girl only frowned, “That true?”

“If that’s what you want to think,” Yorihi kept her face turned away from the man, trying to focus to get a better look and feel of the area they were in.

The man pulled out a chair from by the wall and set it in front of Yorihi, taking a seat as he stared at her for a moment, running a hand under his chin in thought, “Hmm…” he scooted closer, noticing the girl didn’t flinch or react, then reached out and grabbed her jaw, forcing her to ‘look’ his way, still she didn’t react, “You’re not exactly what I expected…”

“Hmp,” the young girl snorted, seeming to ignore her interrogator, “And what’s that?”

“Ah-ah,” the man held up his free hand, waving it in a ‘no’ hand motion, “I’m the one asking questions.”

The girl’s tattooed brows moved as if she were rolling her eyes, “You aren’t exactly asking anything…”

The Kiri-nin turned her face this way and that, gauging how the girl responded. He had a chummy grin on his face, amused by something, “Ya know, most genin are pissing themselves by now when faced with interrogation…”

Finally the girl wretched her chin from his hand and seemed to mildly growl, “I had a good teacher…”

“Suppose so,” there was a flash of movement and before Yorihi could register what had happened the clang of metal hitting the floor rang out in her ears and the man in front of her was blinking, “Well, I’ll be damned…” his hand reached out again, “You really are a Hyuuga…”

At the mention of ‘Hyuuga’ the young girl growled, snapping at the man’s hand as it came near.

Reflexively he backhanded her, frown replacing his earlier grin, “Seems your teacher didn’t teach you well enough…”

“Who you callin’ Hyuuga?” the girl’s voice had a distinct snarl to it as her tattooed brows lowered, “If you haven’t noticed I’m from _Kumo_ , not to mention I’m **_Blind_**!!”

The man waved a hand in front of the girl’s still white eyes, garnering absolutely no reaction. Icy blue eyes blinked, honestly surprised as he rubbed under his chin, “Well, damn…” he waved his free hand in front of the girl again, again gaining no reaction, “I’d thought they just scarred you up to make you look like it, but shit, you really are blind aren’t you?”

It was strange watching the girl’s eyebrows move so expressively while her eyes remained still, “No, I only wear my headband over my eyes because it looks cool…”

The Kiri-nin glared, “You really have a mouth on you don’t you,” he frowned, sitting back while crossing his arms, “There was a rumor that the Raikage had kidnapped a Hyuuga girl, pretending she was his daughter just to lord it over her family…” the man sighed, “But judging by the way you act and the way you sound, you are Kumo through and through, even if your eyes say otherwise…”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Yorihi lied straight to the man’s face. He seemed fixated on her still eyes, not realizing at all that she could not only see just fine but everything around her. She hadn’t moved her eyes in years thanks to having them permanently active and it seemed that gave the false impression that they didn’t work. It also seemed to have the added side effect of drawing attention, meaning the man wasn’t paying attention to any of the other signs of blatant lying. 

The Kiri-nin sighed, almost a groan as he put a pale hand through his short purple hair, “I finally catch a live Hyuuga and they’re blind, talk about ironic…” he looked her over again, getting chills he repressed from the sight of those motionless white eyes. there was just something wrong about them, and the purple scaring around the bottom just seemed to draw attention to them, it was quite unnerving, “Hey kid?” he leaned in on one elbow, leveling his own icy eyes with her blank ones, “You really have no idea what color your eyes are do you?” his free hand flicked at her rough dark blue bangs, sending one of her long braids over her shoulder, “What color your hair is?” his head tilted to the side as he lowered his hand, “Not to mention you skin color?”

A tattooed brow rose, “Your point being?”

The Kiri-nin rubbed his chin in thought, “You’re a tough one, I’ll give you that,” he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and giving her a critical look over, “We were told to kill some Kumo brat, turns out to be the Raikage’s kid, but I was curious about those others rumors, never thought they’d be true… all of them,” a curious frown marred his face as he tilted his head the other way, “Such a waste, but why would they keep you around if you were defective?”

Still white eyes just remained staring forward… for a good solid five minutes.

The Kiri-nin found it disturbing she didn’t blink…

“Are you going to torture me yet?” Yorihi complained loudly before giving a mild growl, “Or can we get to the killing me part… because I have to say this is the _WORST_ interrogation tactic I’ve ever dealt with…”

For good measure the Kiri-nin just punched the arrogant little girl in the face, letting her bound form tip over and hit the ground with a loud thud.

All the girl did was clinch her jaw with a mild growl, he likely broke her nose and she didn’t so much as complain.

Now he was pissed. Shaking out his hand the man menacingly stepped over to the downed girl, “This is such a fucking joke,” he raised one foot, snagging the bar between the front two legs of the chair forcing her to hurl back up, then grabbed the girl by the throat and pulled her up, chair and all, just to stare into those blank eyes, “We’re told to kill a kid, it’s a fucking blind Hyuuga with a big mouth on her, who’s telling me how to do my job,” he brought his arm up, swinging back, then slamming down on ground causing the chair to crack and the girl to hack, but still nothing from her eyes. The Kiri-nin snarled, squeezing her throat, not even caring for the thing wrapped around her neck, “You’re lucky you’re blind else you could see just how fucking pissed I am…”

There was a weak chuckle around the hacking, “You’re… about… to… get… even… more… pissed…”

A purple brow twitched on the Kiri-nin as he snarled, removing his hand from her throat… then noticed a red light coming from her neck, “The fuck?”

The girl just coughed again, intermitted with laughter, “Tracking… device…” a smile spread on Yorihi’s face, “Activates when the radio on my neck is destroyed…”

The pupils in the man’s eyes shrunk as his mind started to understand what the girl was saying. He snarled takin several steps back, “You’re bluffing…”

Yorihi just coughed again, spitting up some blood but the grin never left her lips, “Willing to bet your life on that?” taking a deep breath the young girl concentrated on her chakra, the pain from Bachiko’s distance had dissipated, meaning he was heading back to her, hopefully with her partner, but thanks to this mook her radio was busted. Setting that aside she managed to gather enough focus quick enough to enhance her strength and break the chair around her, making the bindings effectively useless, at least the ones on her feet as she quickly shrugged off the chair bits and stood tall, glaring directly at the Kiri-nin with her still white eyes, “Because I’m more than game…”

The Kiri-nin glared at the girl, reclaiming his cool once he notice her hands were still tied around her back. He pulled out a hooked kunai and held it in a reverse grip as he slowly moved towards the door, “What’s a little brat like you going to do? Tied up like that?” he grinned as she mirrored his movements, “Kick me?”

“Maybe,” then in quick succession Yorihi jumped, crouching in a ball momentarily as she slipped her bound hands in front of her. The second her feet touched the ground she bounced forward, holding her tied hands together in what looked to be a ram seal, middle and index fingers held out with the rest folded… only she didn’t seem to be using the seal for anything as she pointed forward like a sword, the Kiri-nin foolishly letting her get close, expecting to slice her with his kunai…

What he didn’t expect was for her to be so fast, the entire maneuver was less than a second and her fingers touched his headband around his neck…

“Or this,” escaped the girl’s lips lowly as she released a veritable beam of chakra from her combined finger tips, cutting through the man’s forehead protector and throat, severing his spine…

There was a gurgle as the corpse attempted a swipe out of reflex but Yorihi easily stepped back watching momentarily as the body twitched; anger and disgust on her visible features. She didn’t know which annoyed her more, the fact he died so quickly or that someone like that had gotten the drop on _her_ with a relatively simple poison.

It didn’t matter as she quickly returned to her ‘mission mode’, her curiosity was satisfied, mostly. Someone hired Kiri-nin to kill her. – _Great…_ \- not that it didn’t surprise her, it just wasn’t something she’d expected so soon… or on a mission like this. Her brows furrowed as she crouched, grabbing the dead man’s hooked kunai and cutting her bindings. – _How did they know I’d be **here** anyway?_ \- that was something she decided she’d figure out later, now was getting away…

She quickly retrieved her gear, reequipping it and held the scabbard of her largest blade, the Uchigatana on her top left, with her left hand while placing her right on the handle. – _No need for subtlety anymore…_ \- she was obviously outside her mission parameters so stealth was no longer an issue. Meaning the quickest way out was the best option…

… And she sensed several other possible-Kiri-nin crowding around the door, likely feeling their comrade’s chakra disappear while hers was growing stronger.

A smirk rose on her lips as she gripped her sword, something menacing she was sure her Father would be proud of.

“Time to cut them to pieces, Kirezentai!” with a quick draw and focusing her chakra on the blade she made a single horizontal slice before sheathing the blade.

The moment the hilt and scabbard made contact the door in front of her collapsed, having been cut in two, and beyond that several of the gathered Kiri-nin collapsed from horizontal blade wounds. The most obvious were the two in front that had been cut in half, and behind them others had their equipment, armor and some too close skin showing cuts from the blade.

Yorihi simply gave a demon’s grin as she stepped over the body of their fallen comrade, out of the shadow of the door and into the open camp, “So,” her voice came out low and soft as the other Kiri-nin seemed to be trying to comprehend what just happened, “Any of you want to _explain_ to me who hired you to kill me?”

The three Kiri-nin that had avoided total bisection were staring ahead, expecting an adult shinobi threatening them… when they looked down and saw only a little girl with her head tilted down none of them really knew what to think. So they did what they were supposed to: kill her!

“Tch,” Yorihi’s eyebrows rolled as her hands swiftly went behind her to grab her beat rods, effortlessly smacking one guy’s arm away while locking another’s behind his back with her rods, popping out his shoulder and using him as a human shield to take the blows from the others while casually stating, “It would be a _lot_ easier on you if you just answered my question…”

“G-guys… Ple-” and those were the last words of her human shield as one of his ‘comrades’ used a hook blade to slice his neck, causing him to become literal dead weight.

Yorihi growled, having to dislodge her arm and weapons to not topple with the dead man which left her momentarily exposed. She managed to lean out of the way of one man’s swipes, kicking him away, only for the other one to come down with claws. – _Shit!_ -

Luckily this obvious sweep was thwarted by a rush of blue-black fur and immense growling… suffice it to say the guy would be missing his top half.

Yorihi had to shake off the bizarre feeling, both from Bachiko going on a ‘feeding’ spree with the remaining Kiri-nin nearby, but also the strange sensation when he stepped over the bodies. She felt a rush of anger and fear but pushed it down, these peons meant nothing to her and were just hired muscle after all, she wouldn’t place any of them above Chuunin level, and that is **_not_** by Kumo standards.

“Here,” a gruff voice accompanied a hand next to her head.

“Kumori-kun,” she grabbed the older boy’s hand, her other still pushing away the feelings of the dead, as she stood up facing towards her cat mauling the last Kiri-nin. A disgruntled frown was obvious on her face, “You’re late.”

A petulant frown passed the dark skinned boy’s face as he mildly glared at her, “It’s not like you gave me a signal or anything to come _rescue_ you, your highness,” he smirked as she shoved him. A chuckle released from him as she walked ahead grumbling. He was glad she was, overall, okay, a quick glance at the bodies around didn’t really make him comfortable but he’d come to deal with it, like her, besides these guys were trying to kill her anyway. He spit on the chopped up corpses, not only were they weak they’d attempted the greatest sin in his mind; killing his arrogant little teammate. Leaving the bodies where they lay he caught up to Yorihi, tossing his cleaver sword on one shoulder, “Find out what you wanted?”

A tattooed brow rose over blank eyes, “Mostly,” she fiddled with the blindfold around her neck. She’d gotten bigger since she last wore it and wondered if it would still fit, it felt so strange to not have something covering her eyes, like an exposed wound.

“Uh-um,” she watched as her teammate took off his own headband, handing it down to her while adamantly looking away, “Here.”

The ‘blind’ girl’s dark blue brows furrowed as she looked at his plate. It wasn’t the right color and the band was shorter than her own… “Tch,” acting almost ungrateful the girl took the headband from his hand, putting it over her eyes and tying off the knot behind her head, “So how much did you hear?”

“All of it,” he was still mostly looking ahead, that stern but obviously confused pout on his face, “I dunno what that fucker was talking about, you’re the princess of Kumo, not some white-eyed treehugger…”

Yorihi’s brows twitched as she tried not to snort, “You swear?”

Uenkai just growled, shrugging the shoulder with his cleaver sword on it, “If I’m pissed off enough…” he had his eyes closed and was pout-scowling, “No one has the right to say that kind of stuff about my partner and get away with it…”

At the mention of ‘partner’ the younger girl stopped, head finally up and in his direction. She wanted to ask him to repeat what he’d said, to verify he had called her his partner in earnest. Then she wanted to ask if he meant it. Then several other things and likely yell at him.

The teal haired boy took a second to notice there weren’t footsteps next to him, he paused, opened his eyes and turned on his partner. She was, for the lack of a better word, ‘staring’ at him, with his headband. It looked kind of funny actually, the pale cream color around her eyes surrounded by her dark blue hair. He just quirked a teal brow, “What?”

She pressed her lips together and seemed to almost blush for a moment, “N-nothing…” she turned her head to face away while walking forward. When she got next to him, her head tilted his way momentarily, “Thanks though… for the rescue.”

The older boy just shrugged, “You seemed to have it handled,” he turned, nudging towards her cat that was finishing up his ‘rounds’, “Have to say your cat was **_much_** more worried about your arrogant lit-”

She shoved him again.

He chuckled.

And Yorihi seemed to storm off, “I’m not thanking you again!”

Uenkai just laughed, turning towards her, watching her storm off, “Wouldn’t dream of it, Prin-”

Something shot out, through Uenkai and at the very last second Yorihi managed to dodge it. Without turning her head she watched as the object hit the ground, burrowing deep with only the end sticking out. A black arrow, upon a closer inspection it had a spiral tip, obviously meant to pierce through anything and move at high speeds while making barely a sound.

It had shot through Uenkai’s chest which at the time had been level with her head.

If Uenkai hadn’t been standing behind her the arrow wouldn’t have been slowed enough for her to dodge. If he hadn’t been standing behind her she may have seen it earlier…

“Sh-hit…” the boy grasped the wound, gritting his teeth as a furious look came over his face. The wound was _through_ his chest, but didn’t seem to have hit anything vital, for now, so he drew his blade back in his hand, turning around towards where the shot had been fired, “Wh-here are they?!”

“Hold still!” the moment he turned Yorihi was behind him placing her hand on the back of his wound, “I don’t know anything that’ll heal it fully, but…” she bit her bottom lip, praying her small dose of chakra would help keep his wound together long enough for them get out of there.

“Tch,” the teal haired boy waved his sword, managing to block three other arrows with a chakra enhanced wave. Too bad the exertion caused the wound in his front to surge, sending him to his knee, “D-damnit,” he grit his teeth, feeling blood come from the back of his throat and the front of his chest. His left arm hung limply, fuzz and cold running through it, forcing him to hold his blade in his right alone. He thrust the cleaver blade’s flat tip to the ground, blocking two more arrows and using it to lean on. Something felt wrong, more than it should…

“We need to get out of here,” his partner instructed him, hand still on his wound and attempting to stitch it together with little success. Healing wasn’t something Yorihi was familiar with so whatever her chakra was doing to hold him together was from desperation alone.

Unfortunately the boy thrust his shoulder, forcing the girl to end her contact as he stood, tall and proud, glaring towards their enemy, “We need to take them out-” a sudden rushing cough enveloped him and he tasted blood.

The girl behind him growled, throwing up her barrier with one hand and pulling him back with her other, “Our mission is finished, the only action we **_need_** to do is withdraw!”

He looked back at her with a thin teal eye, something about his look Yorihi couldn’t interpret, “They’ll pursue…” another bloody cough, “T-they will try to kill-”

“And we’ll stop them there!” desperately the younger grabbed his jaw, forcing him to look at her, to understand what she was trying to say, “But right now we need to get you to someone that knows what they’re doing…”

His brows furrowed and his shoulder flinched at each sound of the arrows hitting the chakra barrier she’d put up. He glanced at the thing, a reminder that his efforts were ultimately futile… with a deep sigh the older boy relented, “Fine,” he flexed his left hand, still able to control it despite the strange feeling and he formed several seals, “ _Eteru Youshiki: Kirigakure no jutsu!!_ ” taking a deep breath he felt a rush of air from his chest. He gave Yorihi one last look, the younger girl nodded lowering her barrier as he turned and released a bloody mist. At the end he coughed harder, nearly spewing blood and forcing his shorter companion to brace him over her shoulder. But he had done it, given them a way to escape.

“Damnit hold on!” the girl ordered, tattooed brows low as she shouted in the ether mist, “ _BACHIKO!!_ ” and as if a part of the mist himself her horse sized feline appeared at the blind girl’s side. She tossed Uenkai over her ghost cat’s side, jumping on top straddling the beast as she held her partner in front of her, “Get us out of here!!”

With a yowl the giant cat responded, taking off toward the north. Kumo was north, it always was, that was home and safety, exactly where his master wanted to be.

As they rode something felt off to Uenkai, and it wasn’t the blood loss. Something was itching in the back of his mind, like a memory of something his father used to tell him… about Kiri tactics… he managed to look up and see Yorihi seated on her large cat like a horse, gritting her teeth and brows knit over his headband. He turned his head the other way, squinting his eyes in the mist… what was it his father told him…

There was a slight sheen just ahead of them…

“Get down!!” using all the effort he had he moved and pushed Yorihi down on the back of her cat, the sheen passing over them harmlessly.

“Kumori-kun what in the-?!” the girl rattled off at first… then noticed one of Bachiko’s tails sever a thin wire she hadn’t even noticed. Her brows rose slightly, that had been about neck level for her as she was riding…

“Wires…” the teal haired boy coughed blood all over the front of his partner’s shirt, “Father… told me… Kiri-nin set up wires around their bases… in case of pursuit or escape by horse…” he gave a shallow chuckle, “Or I suppose… giant cat?”

“Shut up…” the girl’s voice both growled and whined, her eyebrows twisting up, “Don’t say a word… just…”

He gave her a bloody smile, “No… promises…”

 There was a low growl from the large feline, signally something to the ‘blind’ girl that caused her face to scowl even more as the beast slid along the ground, turning sharply. Yorihi managed to brace Uenkai on the giant cat’s back as she tried to understand what Bachiko was doing.

With the mist clearing the sheen became clear. – _Wires_ \- there was a barrier of thin wires and the younger girl got the feeling these ones were more enforced then the few neck-cleavers. She sensed chakra in them and there was something about them that deterred her ghostly companion.

She grit her teeth, they weren’t getting anywhere like this. Mentally she instructed the feline to stop and with another growl he did just that. Skidding slightly as Yorihi braced her injured companion the giant cat halted, growling and waving his tails disapprovingly.

“Hold still,” she instructed her partner, jumping down and heading towards the barrier. She could feel the chakra coming off of it the closer she got.

“Yorihi!” Uenkai attempted to push himself up but it hurt and the giant cat pushed him back down with one of its large tails.

“Quiet,” with one hand she reached out towards the wires. Her finger almost an inch away from them  only to be shocked. The girl grit her teeth pulling her hand back. It wasn’t just a wire barrier meant to cut anyone that tried to pass through it, it was also an electric field, “Damnit…”

There was a crash behind her as Uenkai managed to roll off the giant ghost cat, despite its growling protests and persistent tail. The older boy groaned, thankful for the pain that told him he was still alive but annoyed as his hand slipped in the muddy red ground. – _Damnit_ \- he was still bleeding, probably worse now that he’d fallen, but he was a man of Kumo, he had a job to do. Pushing himself to his feet his right hand grasped his cleaver sword as he couldn’t really feel his left anymore and raised it, determined to strike…

“Stop!!” the smaller girl grappled around the tall boy, locking his right arm to him, getting his blood all over her clothes and his headband, “Do that and you’ll only fry yourself!!”

Uenkai growled, wincing at the pain and urge to cough, “You need to get out of here, warn home…”

She shoved him, her small frame surprisingly strong and his surprisingly still sturdy, “We’re both going home!” she shoved again, forcing his weapon down, “You need to be treated, heal up so I can kick your ass for how stubborn and foolish you’re being!!”

Hearing her words the wounded boy finally relented, all but collapsing on her, “I’m being stupid, huh?”

“Very,” tattooed brows furrowed as Yorihi couldn’t help but grip his bloody hoodie. His movements were sluggish, his skin was feeling colder, she knew what was coming if they couldn’t get him to help soon, “Just a little more,” she didn’t know why she said it but he nodded to her anyway, putting down his sword.

“You’re…” he pushed down a cough, “gonna be… a great leader…” he smiled honestly.

“Shut up,” her fist hit the open wound on his chest causing him to wince, “You’re going to be there too, my right hand, yelling at me every time I screw something up…”

“Heh…” a smirk played at the boy’s dark lips. He felt so tired but he believed her, he needed to.

Yorihi pushed him away, holding him out at arm’s length, looking him over and memorizing every facet of him. Then she turned to Bachiko, the demon cat oddly patient and silent throughout the entire exchange, “Bachiko, go, find something, anyone that can help and bring them back…”

The cat gave a small growl, warning her the Kiri-nin were closing in and from where before taking his smaller form and disappearing. He reappeared on the other side of the electric wall, his vibrant blue eyes gazing into Uenkai’s teal ones, warning the arrogant boy that he better not give in before he returned. Then, with a wave of his tail, he was gone.

“Heh,” Uenkai gave a bloody grin to his blind partner, “I think he has it out for me…”

“He just worries,” the smaller girl grabbed his arm, slinging it over her shoulder and forcing him to lean on her.

The older boy frowned but gave little resistance as they started walking the wall, “I’m not that broken…”

“The less effort you put up the less likely you’ll fully bleed out,” her words came out clipped and agitated. They both still knew what was most likely to happen here.

Uenkai passed the small girl a sympathetic smile he wondered if she could feel as he shuffled at her shorter pace, “What… what are you going to do?”

Tattooed brows furrowed, “Dig a hole under the fence if I have to…”

He gave a held chuckle in his chest, wanting to laugh louder but knowing it’d only give them away, plus it felt weird feeling the chill in his chest, “I meant when I die…”

The world stopped.

He’d said out loud what they’d been denying.

“You’re not dying,” Yorihi growled, trying to keep her voice calm even if she knew it was wrong. He’d already lost a lot of blood and they couldn’t afford time for any significant first aid until they got on the other side of the electric wire wall or killed their pursuit. She needed to think, needed to plan, do something, _anything_ that would save his life.

“Heh,” another empty chuckle, “Well my parents are dead, dunno any other family and the closest thing I had to a family after them became lost to me when she died saving me…”

Yorihi frowned, not bothering to tell him to shut up.

“Take what you want of mine,” his voice was low and gravely, looking at the girl pulling him along, “dunno… if any of it would help…” a small smirk picked at his lips when he saw the pouting frown on her face. Something he’d seen on her father, “I’d rather… have something of mine survive… in the next Raikage…”

“You’re not dying,” the young girl repeated flatly.

He spent a long second looking at her, making the blind girl momentarily think he’d finally stopped. He didn’t, instead looking down at the sword on his hip, “Make sure this gets home,” weakly he held the cleaver sword up to the girl, “its… the last piece of her…” suddenly he coughed up more blood, the pain returning to his chest, “It… _needs_ to be in Kumo.”

Yorihi snorted, rolling her brows and defying his suggestion.

Teal eyes grimaced back at her with a nostalgic grin, “Give it to… that crazy cousin of yours… if you don’t want it…” his eyes clouded, “She… she was her friend too…”

Silently the blind girl nodded, agreeing to his condition even if she didn’t want to believe it. With a frown the girl nodded towards her partner, “Whatever… you’re still not dying yet…”

“Heh,” the older boy gave a bloody grin, “Sure… about that?”

Yorihi scowled, knowing exactly what he meant. They’d both sensed them at the same time, him through his dwindling mist, her through her sight. They were surrounded. Trapped on one side by an electrified fence and everywhere else by archers and several other Kiri-nin. – _These must be the real troops_ \- at least she hoped as they were obviously far more aware of their abilities by now.

Unceremoniously she dropped her wounded partner onto the ground behind her, he gave a grown she ignored as pale hands reached around and drew he beat rods, taking a defensive stance.

A man with purple hair and half his visible face scarred over a rebreather stepped out of the mist and trees. His narrow eyes looked at her specifically, ignoring her dying partner, “No blades this time?”

“You’re not worth these blades,” she bit out trying to determine the other Kiri-nin’s positions. It was irritating but she had to actually look for them with her regular sight, her chakra sight had interference from Uenkai’s mist and they were far enough away from the ground in the trees that she couldn’t get a clear picture.

“Yori-hi,” Uenkai bit out from the ground, pushing himself up. He got an arrow in the leg for his attempt, “ARGH!!” his jaw clinched tightly trying to prevent any more sound.

A tattooed brow twitched as Yorihi snarled, showing her teeth.

The lead Kiri-nin just seemed to look on passively, “You’re a much more valuable target then that half-breed trash,” he reached out a scarred hand from under his torn poncho, “Come willingly and we may just let him live…”

“You’re not very good at negotiating are you,” the young girl’s brows lowered fiercely, her stance tensing. She had the archers down, they were mainly aimed at her but a few on the ends were on Uenkai. She could probably blitz most of them but he’d get a fatal hit.

“Better than you think,” the scarred Kiri-nin withdrew his hand, obviously the little Hyuuga wasn’t going to come willingly.

Yorihi snorted, showing false bravado by standing taller and seemingly lowering her guard, “Don’t know why you’d want me, I assume you heard your man, I’m defective,” a pale hand reached up and pulled down her partner’s headband, showing her still eyes, “Can’t see a damn thing so these supposedly ‘great’ eyes of mine are completely useless to someone like you…”

The way the man’s eyes thinned and went up in the center suggested he was smirking, “Who said anything about **_your_** eyes?” the man’s thin eyes slithered down the young girl and it took everything Yorihi had to not budge, “You look old enough to start having brats, if not, well it wouldn’t be too long…”

The only outward sign the girl was disturbed was the tightening of her fists around her weapons. Her face was neutral, her stance was strong, and she wanted nothing more than to bash this man’s brains in… but a look at her partner, the burning hatred on his face behind her… she needed to figure out a way to get him out of here safely, **_then_** she could kill this man with brutal efficiency.

There was a twinge in the back of Yorihi’s mind telling her Bachiko was on his way back. – _Already?_ \- were there other Kumo-nin in the area? The only other one she could think of was… “Sensei?” a small smirk rose on the girl’s face. She knew they didn’t get along well but they’d always gotten the two of them out of a jam when needed and they certainly would know a way to stabilize Uenkai’s wounds.

Out of thin air on the other side of the electric fence the androgynous jounin appeared, dark eyes narrowed and face neutral as they had their katana out, ready to fight. Bachiko was standing next to them, blue-black fur puffed out and on edge, waiting to attack like his master.

The Kiri-nin seemed to snort with a sinister look, “This your backup girl?”

“Three Kumo-nin are more than enough for the likes of you…” she ducked lower, there was likely only one chance. She charged the bastard, sensei cut the wire, Bachiko guarded Uenkai… he’d be safe and they’d be able to kill the rest of them.

The Kiri-nin’s snickering eyes left the girl, staring right at the platinum-blue haired jounin, “Let us take this one and you can have your mongrel back…”

Shibu was silent for a long moment, narrowly glaring at the man, “That girl is the Raikage’s daughter, no matter her heritage,” there was venom in their low voice, a growl that was oddly neutral, “She’ll be too much even for the likes of you…”

A purple brow rose on the man, “Oh really?”

Dark eyes narrowed on the sword wielder, “Yes.”

- _What are they-_ “ARRAGGHH!!” suddenly there was a massive pain surging through Yorihi’s body as she collapsed to her knees, clutching her chest. Her senses went haywire from the pain and the shadowed feelings as her demonic feline was screaming in her head. She managed to stabilize enough to catch a glimpse of what just happened…

“Sen-sei… why-aragh!!” again the pain surged and again she was knocked to the ground.

Shibu was standing over Bachiko with blank neutral eyes… as they repeatedly stabbed the ghostly feline in the chest. There was no way a normal blade could affect him like that, it had to have been made of a certain metal or blessed or-

“You shouldn’t rely on a demon’s power so much,” they twisted the sword causing the bakeneko to groan, “They’re easy to be rid of if you know them,” dark eyes from the jounin glared down at the wispy feline, “A sword coated in sake is surprisingly effective against their kind…”

“Sensei, what the fuck are you-?” Uenkai pushed up, growling as he pushed against his own pain to glare at the person.

Those same dark eyes stared at him passively, softer than before but nowhere near kind, “You know why,” their voice was a dark growl, “If you want to ever reach your dream this obstacle needs to be removed,” their glare returned to Yorihi who was obviously trying to repress the shared pain, “As if your family wasn’t low enough, already monsters, now binding themselves to demons,” they spit on the ground in obvious protest, “I’m doing Kumo a favor riding it of you,” finally they turned to the Kiri-nin, “Take her, do what you want but the boy is mine…”

The Kiri-nin seemed to grin with his eyes, “Well, never thought I’d see a Kumo-nin with sense…”

“Shut up,” Shibu growled, thrusting their sword into the demon cat one last time pinning it to the ground as they stepped towards the field, “Keep up your end or you’re next.”

“Sure,” the purple haired man shrugged, “Why not?” he raised one hand, waving it signaling to the archers. He seemed to pause a moment considering something, “Ya know, now that I think about it…” his eyes scrunched in a smirk as they looked at the prone girl, “She doesn’t need her limbs for our purposes,” and went up in a signal as the man whistled, “Do something about this!”

Yorihi growled, “Son of a whor-ARAGGH!!” this time it wasn’t Shibu stabbing Bachiko but one of those arrows in her leg.

The Kiri-nin just smirked, obviously enjoying the scene.

“Why…” a dark fist slammed on the ground as Uenkai clinched his teeth. He glared at the platinum-blue haired jounin on the other side of the fence, “What the **_FUCK_** do you think you’re doing sensei!!”

They stared plainly, “What needs to be done…”

“No it doesn’t,” he reached down, trying to grab a knife. One of the archer’s pinned his hand, “Rraagh!!” the teal haired teen simply bore the pain, clinching his hand in a fist as he ripped himself up from the ground, pulled the arrow out and glared fury at his ‘sensei’, “You may hate the Raikage, you may want me to take his place, but **_FUCK YOU!!_** ” he threw the arrow, it zapped on the fence, barely making it through, landing at the traitor’s feet, “You cost me one partner, **_NOT ANOTHER!!_** ”

“Oh, now the boy wants to be a hero?” the Kiri-nin snickers, raising his hand lazily.

Teal eyes burned as the teen glared at the purple haired prick, “You too,” he drew his sword in one hand and a fist full of kunai in the other, each finger through the ring on the end forming claws, “You have no right to _breathe_ let alone speak in the presence of the Princess of Kumo!!”

The Kiri-nin just looked at him, raised his hand and pointed at the girl trying to get up.

A rain of black arrows let loose.

Uenkai moved in front of his partner, taking a deep breathe before releasing it, then released one of the kunai on his hand, the handle of which started to sparkle. The kunai set off an explosion the lit the air around them on fire thanks to the pure alcohol Uenkai breathed into the air. Ash rained down as the only remainder of the arrows.

Too bad it wasn’t all of them.

Immediately six shots, all steel arrows hit him in the chest causing him to stumble.

“You’re a fucking idiot boy,” the Kiri-nin stepped forward, “We know all about your techniques, alcohol burns, ether knocks you out, blah blah blah,” he raised his arm, catching the cleaver blade in an open palm, “The Sakebi were **_ours_** after all…”

The kunai fist shot out and hit the man square in the chest as Uenkai coughed up blood, “You… may have known… my father’s techniques…” his eyes rose, flashing a dark purple unlike their normal teal as his brows lowered in fury and his left fist shook with the amount of chakra he had gathered there, “But not my mother’s! _Indou no ken!!_ ”

The lightning chakra gathered in his fist went through the kunai into the Kiri-nin’s chest cavity, so many volts causing his internal organs to burst and light the vulnerable flesh on fire. The Kiri-nin was literally cooked from the inside out, coughing black blood through the rebreather as his body reflexively grabbed the boy’s before collapsing as dead weight always did.

Uenkai stood, hand burned, breathing hard, eyes back to teal as he smirked at the incoming arrows.

Yorihi watched… couldn’t _help_ but watch as her partner was skewered by a dozen arrows.

For a moment he remained standing, his body seemingly defiant of the reality that just happened. Then he smiled and whispered something only Yorihi could hear…

“ _I guess it’s time… Sasayaki…_ ”

… and collapsed on the ground, a dozen arrows perforating his body and covered in blood.

 Yorihi heard a heartbeat.

She saw her sensei flee the feel behind the barrier fence.

She saw Bachiko use the arrow Uenkai had thrown earlier to dislodge the katana.

She saw the remaining Kiri-nin gather and approach her, could hear them say words that didn’t mean a thing to her.

Her partner was dead. He died protecting her. He _died_ because she was incapacitated. He **_died_** because their sensei sold **her** out.

The next few moments were a blinding fury as Yorihi screamed.

Bachiko woke, feeling the immense pull of sadness, hatred, regret and **_need_** for revenge. The ghost cat awoke with glowing blue eyes, flaming fur set on end and burning brightly as his tail split further and he gave his master _everything_ she needed.

Suddenly the present Kiri-nin felt blinding pure rage. All of them too stunned, unable to do anything but turn towards the source. It was the girl, the Kumo _girl_ who was claimed to be the Raikage’s own daughter. The girl they had been sent to kill but their leader, who was **_dead_** , decided to try and capture.

What stood before them was not a girl, it was a monster, a demon born of rage and regret.

Yorihi’s chakra was going haywire, darkening to the point it mimicked Bachiko’s only with a much lighter blue on the outside. It surrounded her in a terrifying aura as her eyes seemed to glow and she breathed a terrifying mist. Her hands moved to replace her beat rods and instead drew the Ninjato on her right in her left hand.

She stepped over the bodies of her partner and his killer, her aura flaring as she screamed sending several of the Kiri-nin to the ground.

One tried to move…

He was instantly skewered on the Ninjato, lightning pulsing through the blade, piercing him and stabbing the man behind him.

Another moved… he was skewered.

And another, and another, and another…

The demon growled and roared, jumping from one interloper to the next, piercing their chests and ensuring none of them would be getting up again.

A voice called in the back of her mind, telling her several were running into the forest, trying to get away.

She simply growled lowly, shifting the ninjato’s grip, allowing her to hold the sheath of the Uchigatana as she grabbed its handle with her right. She held a perfect stance for all of a moment before roaring and slicing out with the blade…

Everything, _everything_ , human, animal, tree, **_EVERYTHING_** was cut in two in the area before her slice for a half mile.

When the demon could no longer feel anything within her vicinity and the voice in the back of her head told her they were gone… she finally stopped. Sheathing her blades, breathing out a deep breath the fearsome demonic aura left her, and Yorihi fell to her knees gripping the dirt in front of her.

And she cried.

\-----

“Raikage-sama,” a soft voice spoke as a woman with grey hair appeared before the large man standing staring out the window to the Village Hidden in the Clouds, “Your daughter has finally returned from her mission.”

“Hm,” the man barely grunted, not turning, not acknowledging the report.

Mabui fidgeted in her bow, not sure what else to tell him, “As her report stated, she has returned alone, giving her partner’s body over to R&D as well as a description of their attackers, along with the mission acquisition…”

“Hrm,” that sounded more like a growl.

The cute assistant finally raised her head to look at the man’s back. She expected some manner of response, shouting, yelling, fury and broken furniture… instead he was still and silent. She made to speak again only for a large presence to make its way to her side. A quick glance with her blue-green eyes and the young woman gulped.

“Get outt’a here girl, he heard you the first time,” Raiga, the gigantic Commander of Company H waved a clawed hand and nudged his scraggily chin.

Mabui adorably panicked for a moment due to the man’s sheer size, but quickly stood, nodding with a light blush as she made herself scarce. Who knew what kind of ‘meeting’ those two were going to have…

As soon as the door closed Raiga’s tiny icy blue eyes took in the stoic form of the Raikage, gauging and measuring the young man. Silence and stoicism wasn’t generally his reaction to anything, so _obviously_ this meant this incident was **_seriously_** bothering him.

A week ago they got word from a boarder base that Yorihi had arrived, unconscious atop her demon pet cat, with the dead body of her partner and their sensei nowhere in sight. Minor questioning of the girl when she awoke revealed their sensei a traitor and that they were ambushed by Kiri-nin whom killed her partner. The way the report was worded made it obvious the girl hadn’t said much but that obviously she had ‘handled’ the rest of them.

The Raikage had been stoic ever since, and that assassin of his nowhere in sight.

Raiga felt annoyed and partially responsible. He’d had his suspicions about that androgynous bastard but they’d done their job well enough and hadn’t openly threatened anyone. He was angry to lose that boy, as foolish as the kid was he was shaping up to be a decent hunter and was obviously loyal to his partner. As for the girl herself…

A growl escaped the gargantuan man every time he thought about her. He was a father himself to an oddly large number of daughters, he worried for all of them, even lost a few. If anything he knew _exactly_ what the young man in front of him was feeling at this exact moment.

“Hate to say it,” the liger commander finally ended the silence, “But none of my hunters can find that SOB, hrmp,” a big growl as he felt like spitting, “damn bastard was good, so we’re having a hard time tracking-”

“Don’t bother,” the Raikage spoke in a low gravelly voice, “I already sent someone, and _she_ will not rest until her quarry has been found and made to pay…”

It took Raiga a moment to put the pieces together but once he did a wide wicked smile spread on his scarred scruffy face, “And what’ll that be?”

Gouzin Jinrai simply stared out the window with hard black eyes, “Whatever **_she_** deems enough…”

Against his better judgement the commander of Company H laughed, a great big bellowing laugh he was known for. He’d married a devil of a woman once, so he knew better than anyone… **_don’t_** threaten a monster’s kid.

\-----

The traitor tried holding the firm grip around their throat with nearly claw-like hands, “B-but don’t you see… it was a mistake, she lied! She’s not who she says she is! That demon! It possessed her, it…!!”

Kemui tightens her grip, left eye seeming to glow slightly, “You failed to realize two things,” blood starts to seep from the wounds she was putting in the traitor’s throat with her claws, “One, that was **_my_** Lord’s daughter you tried to sellout,” her face become stony as she draws them within an inch of her, something feral in her eyes, “And two…” there is a growl in her low voice as she snarls, setting her lips by the frightened person’s ear so only they could hear the words she was about to speak, “That is **_my_** daughter…” she could feel as her hand clinches around the bastard’s throat, crushing their voice box and letting them bleed _just enough_ that the they gulped…

Then the white wolf tosses the traitor to the ground in front of the R&D labcoats, not one of them looking sympathetic or disturbed by the display. They may have been insane, but they weren’t stupid enough to threaten a wolf’s pup right in front of her…

“Do what you want with this,” Kemui still has a distinct growl in her voice, something sinister few had ever seen before passing along her sharp features, “Use it for the most experimental procedures you have,” her glowing left eye goes to the whimpering creature, their frightened eyes rising just enough to see the wolf snarling at them as they held their bleeding throat, “Just make sure it never has the capacity to leave this facility ever again…”

Yue and Kimyou step forward from the R&D crowd, Kimyou taking the trash on the ground by their hair, The Butcher’s grin spreading on his face while The Bodysnatcher bows lightly to the white wolf, her own sinister grin spreading on her beautiful face, “Consider it our pleasure, Kemui-sama, to act in your interest,” a sadistic glint entered the woman’s eyes, “As well as our own…”

The last Assassin merely nods, turning around; the wolf buried under the cold demeanor they all thought was lost long ago. The Assassin was back, and she was not vindictive… not at all…

\-----

Indou no Ken – Prayer for the dead fist

Kirezentai (Uchigatana)– to cut the entire force (of soldiers)

Shuurai (Ninjato)– lightning strike


	6. Fox and Owl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It hurts, and its gonna hurt for a long time...

 “Uenkai?!” Yorihi’s voice was strained, tight, as the girl’s still white eyes looked right at the boy standing in front of her.

There was a cocky smile, those perfect white teeth against his dark skin as his teal eyes shined in a way she never noticed or realized before as he stood in front of her, grinning over his shoulder, “Don’t worry about me Hime,” he’d said it, he’d called her ‘princess’ like everyone else and it made her blood run cold as his smile got warmer, “I’m just doing what I’m here to do…”

Suddenly the boy turned ahead, pulling back the massive cleaver sword as a serious look came over his face, something she could only tell from his posture and the way his voice shifted darker, “You’re going to be the next Raikage, remember that,” his dark hands gripped the long handle, “Live, push forward, and conquer,” he raised his blade, a smile picking at the side of his face, “And don’t forget the fool that started you on your way, Hime…”

Then there was a flash as he ran ahead, pelted by kunai, swords, blades, every manner of weapon as the boy became a juggernaut, unflinching at his wounds as he mowed through the Kiri purists… sacrificing his future for her own.

“UENKAI!!”

With a gasp Yorihi shot up from her bed, breathing heavy, sweating, and everything shaking.

“Uenkai…” her voice was weak, feeble and trembling as her wide white eyes stared at her shaking hands, slowly bringing them closer not sure they were real. After a moment she put them to her eyes, crying tears that burned of regret, shame and fear. Regret for his loss, shame for missing him, and fear that it was all real… knowing that was true.

She cried herself to sleep… knowing tomorrow would be exactly the same.

\-----

Yorihi stood on the rooftop across from the older genin, holding out the cleaver blade, “Mei-chan…”

Thin black eyes stared at the younger girl, the emotion in them warring and uncertain, “What are you doing Yorihi-chan, isn’t that…” her lips shut tight, a pang of guilt and sorrow hitting her chest full force. She knew whose blade that was, and what it must have meant to the younger girl… what was she doing, offering it? To her?

“Take it,” the younger girl said sternly, “I want you to have it.”

Reddish brown brows furrowed as she reached out, hand hovering over the long handle, waiting for the girl to come back to her senses, “Yorihi,” her voice was calm, low and serious, “this is his blade, why are you offering it to me?” her hand near the handle clinched. It took everything she had to call the blade that teal-haired bastard’s, especially since it had been Sasayaki’s to begin with…

Yorihi thrust the blade into the older girl’s hand, head down as she bit out lowly, “I know he’d want you to have it,” the girl sniffed, breathing in deep, trying to keep her voice even, “he didn’t have any family, and I don’t really know anything about… his partner before me… but he told me, the girl it belonged to, she was a friend of yours, th-that…” the younger girl’s head rose but still the plate covering her eyes didn’t even reach the older girl’s chest as her shoulder shook, “That, if you hadn’t failed, she would have been **_your_ ** partner!” angry tattooed brows rose enough that Mei could see them, “You deserve this blade more than me…”

The youngest Gakushin stared at the younger girl’s brows flatly for the longest time, it was a look her mother would get when she was seriously considering something and Mei was no different. After a long second her hand finally grabbed the handle and took the blade from the distraught girl’s hand, “If you are sure,” she held the blade up straight, inspecting it, memorizing every nick, every scratch, wondering which were from her friend and which were from him…

“I-I can’t wield it…” the younger girl’s voice was so low, so meek as her head faced the ground and her hand gripped one of her own swords, “I already have my own, and I… I couldn’t…” she bit her lip, straightening herself out, “I couldn’t wield the blade that belonged to his partner...”

“Not when someone else cared about her more?” Mei brought the blade down, flat tip flat on the ground as the feather at the end of the handle jingled and she looked at Yorihi directly, “There is no shame in admitting that, feeling jealous for the reverence others held…”

The blind girl’s head snapped up, as if she were staring at the older girl.

Mei just smiled, something empty and sad about the look, “Sasayaki… heh,” her grin widened, “She had a crush on that boy since the moment she saw him, and I have to admit I kind of liked him too,” a light blush ran across the teen’s face as her thumb rubbed against the rough handle of the blade, “But in all fairness, I loved her just the same, she was my friend first, so I would give her all that I could, it didn’t matter if we liked the same guy,” Mei smiled down at Yorihi, something softer but just as sad, “I purposely failed that year, just so she’d get a chance to be his partner… she knew, and thanked me for it, it was one of the last times I saw her…”

“Mei-chan…” those cyan tattoos weren’t so angry, rising in the center in sympathy as the older girl told her tale.

A soft nostalgic grin passed the older genin’s face, “You know what I did, first thing I brought that guy up here when you first brought him over?” at the younger girl’s nod something sharp entered the older girl’s eyes as she seemed to smirk, “I punched him right in the face,” the grin spread, “First time I see him in over a year and I slug him, some kind of girl I am right?” Mei gave a hollow laugh, ignoring the tense way Yorihi stood in front of her, “Guess I’m more like Kaa-chan then I thought…”

“Mei-chan…” Yorihi’s hand seemed to reach out of its own accord, wanting to comfort the older girl but the second her brain registered the action she stopped, holding it limply in the air between them.

The older girl just smiled, “I hated him,” her voice was low as she looked at the younger girl, wishing she could see the feelings in her eyes, “I hated him for not liking me, for getting my friend killed, but most of all showing up out of nowhere and threatening my little cousin…” a sad look passed Mei’s face as she looked at her little cousin, so hurt by the same guy, “I was afraid he’d get you killed, just like her…” her hand not holding the cleaver came up and rubbed under her eye, “it’s just, so stupid, she died for him, now he died for you… heh,” a sad smile crossed her face, unable to react any other way, “I guess, at least, in the end, he got it right, heh…”

Without warning Yorihi just broke, latching onto her elder cousin and hugging her dearly, crying into her red shirt and not caring as the older girl held her tight, muffling the sound.

Somewhere above the crying girl Mei joined her, much more contained but rubbing the younger girl’s back and still giving that sad smile, “Thank you, Yorihi, for giving me this…”

Her only response was a nod into her stomach and continued sobs.

A month and a half later, when the Chuunin exams in Suna were complete, Gakushin Mei of Kumogakure stood as the tournament champion, standing tall and proud… wielding a cleaver sword with a feather on the end in her hand.

\-----

“Let us go over the report again,” The Raikage stated plainly behind his desk staring at the small girl before him. The unidentifiable feelings bubbling within him urged him to throw the desk against the wall and give his baby girl a hug but as the leader of his village he had an obligation to keep himself in check during such official meetings. Glancing slightly to the side he gave Mabui a nod, the young woman fidgeting as she returned it and retrieved the file.

“Ahem,” the assistant cleared her throat, glancing over the small report from the base captain then to the girl in front of her, “You stated the three of you had left on a minor A rank mission to acquire a…” delicate hands flipped through some of the pages coming to a photograph of some ostentatious looking chalice, “cup?” her voice rose in question but garnered no response from the girl, “which you retrieved while your partner, Kumori Uenkai,” one could practically hear how tightly the girl gripped her sword. Mabui swallowed hard, keeping her blue-green eyes on the papers in front of her, “provided you with intelligence for ingress and egress…”

“Yes.” Yorihi’s response was automatic, clipped and unemotive.

Mabui couldn’t help but look between the girl and her father, feeling rather unnerved, “… a-and your… ‘sensei’,” now they could hear teeth grinding, the cute assistant quickly coughed, “t-they were there to supervise, or at least that was the impression?”

“Yes.” Was the clipped response.

A few more pages were flipped as Mabui continued, “You stated the majority of the mission went as planned, up until the point you tripped the alarms-”

“ ** _I_** didn’t trip the alarms,” the young girl practically growled.

“R-right,” another nervous cough as Mabui momentarily glanced at the Raikage hoping he had some kind of input in this, of course there was none, “A-anyway, due to this you were forced to seek an alternate route out, without help?”

“Yes.” And the stoic response was back.

Mabui’s shoulders slumped, “It is at this point you attempted to remove an ‘obstacle’ non-lethally, only to be drugged and kidnapped yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Willingly?” a grey brow rose on the older woman’s forehead. She’d seen the kinds of damage the small girl was capable of, the majority of her early job was assigning ‘fix-it’ crews to her destructive exploits. There was no way in this world the cute assistant could fathom Tenkyuu Yorihi being kidnapped in any way other than ‘willingly’.

“Yes.” Again her only response.

“Why?” the sudden deep voice startled the young assistant causing her to jump then realized it came from the large Oni behind the desk.

One of Yorihi’s tattooed brows twitched and it looked like a frown was picking at her lips, “I noticed they were a Kiri-nin, I wanted to know why there were near our territory so instead of pursuing I allowed myself to be taken…”

“After you’d already been poisoned?” blue-green eyes stared incredulously, it was a really stupid mistake on her part in Mabui’s opinion. Her only response was a brow glare from the younger girl.

The Raikage growled as well, obviously not approving, “You could have followed them instead of putting yourself in danger…”

The frown on the pale girl’s face got that much deeper, “I didn’t exactly have long to consider it, _Raikage-sama_ …”

The frown the large blonde man sent the girl could have withered steel, Mabui was honestly surprised the girl didn’t burst into flames.

“Um…” Suddenly the young assistant felt like she’d stepped into a rather private family matter that she _should **not**_ be witness to.

“Continue,” the gravelly voice commanded as the large man sat back further in his chair, hands on the arm rests and just staring at his daughter.

“R-right,” Mabui could feel heat on her cheeks, this was really awkward, why did her job have to entail things like this? “As I was saying, after _allowing_ yourself to be kidnapped,” There was mutual growling on both sides of the desk, “You activated your receiver, allowing your teammates,” a much larger growl from the _little_ girl, “Eep!” Mabui couldn’t help but jump, “I mean, _Teammate_ , singular, etc. etc.” she waved her hand hoping to appease the moody younger girl, “… to listen in and follow you to the Kiri encampment?” she raised a trimmed grey brow as that bit was speculation. As the small girl simply nodded she decided it was alright to continue, “Where you were bound and _questioned_?” another nod and she could have sword she heard furniture squealing under pressure, “Only to kill your captor, your partner return, and the two of you fled the scene after acquiring what information you could, correct?”

“Yes.” Another swift nod.

“Okay,” uncomfortably the young assistant scratched the side of her cheek, the next part was the hardest, “You stated it was during this ‘ _escape_ ’ Kumori received a potentially fatal blow by an arrow, signaling long distance enemies?”

“Yes.” Hand tightening on top left sword.

“It was at this point you signaled a retreat?” Mabui watched the girl, she didn’t want to delve into what happened but it was necessary they have an accurate record of what happened.

“We were facing long distance enemies of unknown strength, our prior objective had been completed, there was no reason for us to continue,” her words were flat and mechanical, it was actually quite creepy.

“Right,” the young assistant looked over the papers again, “So the two of you retreated via…” she squinted at the page, “Giant cat?”

“My familiar Bachiko, yes.” The girl quickly elaborated.

“Uh-huh,” she wasn’t going to question, “And it was after a short pursuit the two of you ran into a barrier,” another mute nod, “Where upon you sent your... _familiar_ , to fetch help, while Kumori and yourself attempted to make some distance?” nod, “Where then your pursuit caught up, threatened you, and when your… _backup_ ,” Mabui was very hesitant to use any normal words to describe the person that betrayed Yorihi, just coming near the point where they showed up seemed to make the girl tense, “arrived and instead of helping they… attempted to sell you out?”

There was only a growl as a response.

Mabui could feel sweat going down her neck as the girl released killer intent, “Which lead to your partner sacrificing himself in an attempt to save you, where upon you… um?” looking at the paper there really were no details. Just ‘Kumori-kun died. I proceeded to eliminate the threat.’ Blue-green eyes narrowed on the rather anticlimactic ending before looking at the young girl, “You do realize we’ll need more details, such as how you managed to wipe out a small contingent of Kiri-nin that had previously had the both of you incapacitated quickly, let alone the account of Shibu managing to nullify you from the other side of the barrier?” a lot of the report was clipped and made little sense. It was obvious to Mabui there was quite a bit the girl simply refused to repeat, at least on paper where nearly anyone could see it. At the girl’s continued silence the young assistant merely looked at the man in charge, “Raikage-sama?”

“That’ll be all,” the large man waved his hand.

Grey brows furrowed, “But, sir-”

“I SAID THAT WOULD BE ALL!!” for the first time in a while the man yelled, getting to his feet.

“Eep!” Mabui reflexively jumped, clutching the report to her chest and nodded, “Y-yes sir!!” she didn’t even bother to wait for the man to dismiss her, obviously the both of them reached their limit in acting ‘formal’ and likely were about to duke it out family style until the ‘issue’ was resolved.

… And Mabui did NOT want to be there for that showdown!

The moment the door closed the Raikage set his knuckles on his desk and leaned on it with his head down, letting out a deep sigh.

Yorihi fidgeted a moment long as the silence continued. She wasn’t sure what to do, what to say, it had been a week since she’d come back from that mission and while her Father had left her to her own devices, now faced with everything again… it was too much, burning, anger, welling sadness, part of her wanting to deny it, ignore anything happened, anything _was_ happening while another wanted to stare into that abyss and remember: It. Was. **_Her_**. Fault.

The young girl turned slightly away, gripping her sword, “Otou-sama…” her voice was small and in reality she had no idea what she wanted to say to the man.

The Raikage just gave a deep, loud, breathy sigh, “I should have prepared you for this…”

Tattooed brows furrowed her head went immediately to her Father. What had he meant by that?

_Lightly_ the large man raised on fist and punched the desk, it groaned but remained intact, “I should have paid more attention!” another pound to the poor abused desk as he bit his lip to keep from yelling, “This should have never happened to you!!”

“Otou-sama!!” Yorihi stepped forward, keeping her voice level as she pushed back her feelings, angry brows low as she faced the man that had raised her, “You didn’t know!! You couldn’t have!!”

“BUT I SHOULD HAVE!!” finally the fist went through the desk. The large man just growled, rubbing his eyes with his free hand as he collapsed into his chair, ignoring the tattered remains of the wooden furniture.

Yorihi faced the ground, ignoring as her Father kept his face hidden in his hand that was propped on the arm of the chair. Her jaw hurt from how much she was clinching it, keeping her thoughts in check. She wasn’t like her Father in that _one_ aspect, she wasn’t going to just go off yelling at him and making a scene…

After a long silence the large oni of a man released another restrained breathe, “You’re going back out there,” he didn’t get a response and he hadn’t been expecting one. After a long moment he finally lowered his hand and looked at his daughter, reminding himself she technically _wasn’t_ but he told that part of his brain to go fuck itself. She was his daughter, but more importantly she was a valuable and proficient konoichi in her own right, the Village _needed_ people like her and that was more important than how he felt, “I’ve talked with your Commander, he has agreed with me that its time you continue doing missions…”

“I’m not taking another partner,” her words were flat, tinged on the edges with a defiant anger that bit coldly.

An edge tipped on the older man’s face, “Wasn’t going to ask you to,” large hands lowered into his lap as he stared at his daughter, both paternal and nostalgic, but also very, very proud of her, “Raiga and I agreed you won’t be having another partner, at least for a while,” this obviously caught the girl’s attention as one of her tattooed brows rose, “We spoke with the Commander of Company 5 and he’s agreed to take you on as a probationary subordinate…”

“Company 5?” now Yorihi’s brows lowered even more, more cautious than before, “That’s an ANBU Company?”

“Yes,” beady black eyes watched the girl carefully as he tapped his fingers together, curious about her response.

“I’m only a genin Otou-sama,” Her hand trembled on her sword, her face trying to remain neutral but it was obvious the girl didn’t know what to think, “There’s no way I’m qualified for-”

“But you are,” the large man stared longingly at the desk, wishing he hadn’t destroyed it as somewhere in that pile was the file with her mission record, “In the past year your former partner and yourself completed various C and B ranked missions on your own, and at least 3 A ranks that relied heavily on your own impressive stealth abilities,” that peak on his lip twitched again, wanting to rise, “Had… he not died, the two of you would have been the ones going the Chuunin exams in Suna, but…”

Yorihi frowned, biting her lower lip.

A frown came to the large man’s dark features, he didn’t like seeing his daughter so upset, “This is why it was agreed to let you try out as a probationary ANBU for Company 5,” again he glanced at his shattered desk, wondering where the file was, “I’ll let your new Commander explain, but their missions rely on stealth not so much combat, as an individual, with your skills, you are exceptionally talented in that area…” her brows were flat and he could tell she was only marginally paying attention, “Please, Yorihi, the Village needs you to continue…” – _I need you to…_ -

“Fine,” the girl turned around heading towards the door, “If there’s nothing else, Raikage-sama…”

The frown fully took over the man’s face, he hated seeing his daughter like this, but he knew there wasn’t much he could do, “Dismissed…”

With barely a nod she opened the door and left, leaving him to sigh into his hand, wondering if he had made the right decision.

\-----

So many things were buzzing around in the young girl’s head as she stepped out of her Father’s office. What the hell was he thinking? What was Raiga-taichou thinking?! Her? ANBU? – _Why would they put me with…_ \- it just made her growl and want to hit something. Without thinking she whirled around, expecting to hit air…

Instead her fist caught in a surprisingly strong grip.

Yorihi froze, everything suddenly silent as she gazed from her still fist to the pale white hand holding it, up the black and steel plated glove and arm guard all the way up to the woman’s steely narrow eyes, “K-Kemui-sama…?”

“I see your father has done little to help your mood,” those steel daggers soften the smallest bit, so small only she’d notice. Then the woman gave one of those barely there smiles as she let the young girl’s hand go, “Has he told you of your new assignment?”

For a long moment Yorihi just numbly stared, lowering her hand and swallowing hard, “Y-yes, Kemui-sama…” it finally hit Yorihi just how long it had been since she’d seen the woman. As they were both active duty and prone to relatively long missions it wasn’t often they’d come across one another for more than a passing moment, and often then it was when they were off-duty and her Teacher was in her evening Kimono with her son. Now she was here, standing in front of her in her battle gear, just like how she remembered her every time something in her life seemed to be on the edge about to break. Her fingers twitched and the sides of her eyes burned, “W-when did you get back?”

Suddenly her eyes were sharp again, “Not long, I had a sudden… mission that required my immediate attention upon my return.”

Without even thinking Yorihi’s teeth clinched and she had to swallow hard, “Shibu…”

“Taken care of,” the white woman’s words were soft and low but even then Yorihi could hear the growl in it, that tone her Teacher _only_ got when something was personal.

Clinching her teeth the girl had to face away, hands in tight fists at her sides, the urge to hit something times fold from before.

A pale hand reached out and took the girl’s shoulder, “Yorihi…”

Roughly the girl pulled away, her mind a buzz caught somewhere between raging fury and gratitude.

Kemui watched her try to take a moment to calm herself, the assassin was unfamiliar with the girl in such a demeanor and as much as she wanted to help she already knew she’d done everything within her power. With a light sigh the pale woman merely crossed her arms, saying the only thing she felt she could, “I’m sorry.”

“Why?” Yorihi bit out angrily, her arms and fists shaking, “I… I wanted to…” she bit down hard, knowing it was irrational how she was feeling so she pushed it down, taking a seething breath through her teeth, “It’s not like you sent him to his death, not like you knew this would happen…”

“Actually I did,” again that calm, collected voice as Kemui looked out the floor to ceiling windows, knowing the girl had stopped shaking and while not turned to had focused all her attention on the assassin, “The primary reason I chose that boy to be your partner was because I knew he’d die for you…”

Yorihi stayed where she was, faced away but her mouth fell open as the woman’s words slowly crept in.

A minute frown pulled on the woman’s placid face as her grey eyes watched the girl’s back, “He confided in me the suspicions he had about his sensei, how he felt they were likely the reason his former partner died, and he agreed to help me investigate them,” something about her eyes became softer and part of her hoped the young girl noticed, “But mostly I could see in him someone that would not let the same thing happen twice, he would have never let you die for him-”

“YOU’RE WRONG!!” Yorihi turned on the woman, fury written in every facet of her being to the point her chakra even started showing, and “He would have lived! He **_SHOULD_** have lived!! There was no damn reason for him to die there!! Like that!! And especially not for me!!” one hand hit her own chest while the other was held out in a claw as she growled at the woman, “Why?! Because I’m the Raikage’s daughter!! Because of this!!”  She ripped the headband, his headband, down from her eyes staring at the woman that had been her teacher since she was a child with still white eyes, “Because I’m so GODDAMN **_valuable_** to the fucking Village!!”

Kemui just stared at the girl. Her face completely neutral, devoid of emotion and unreadable.

It made Yorihi want to cry, knowing it was all true…

But still she wanted to deny it. After a moment she grabbed the headband and reaffixed it to her face, not knowing what the hell to do or say now…

Grey eyes closed as the older woman took a breath, repressing every instinct she had at the moment to remain neutral, “in this Village, it is highly likely for pairings to collapse, typically because shortly after the pairing is made, one member dies,” when Kemui reopened her eyes she was staring at the ground, “If the surviving partner can stand survive they usually live one, far stronger individually than any team any other Village is able to produce,” this time when the woman closed her eyes her white brows furrowed, as if the action and the words spoken were physically painful, “I chose that boy because he was loyal and survived himself, but also, if it situation arose, **_he would_** sacrifice himself for you,” when the woman’s eyes opened again they were hardened steel, the eyes of a wolf staring at the young girl in front of her, “His sacrifice would live on you, allowing you to become even stronger…”

Yorihi just stared. Her hands stopped fixing the headband, her mouth fell open and she felt like her heart had stopped.

Was her Teacher… _really_ that cruel?

She recalled Uzushio’s words that had described the woman as a child. _Mechanic, without mercy or remorse…_

Unconsciously the girl took a step back as her spherical vision couldn’t help but focus on the woman’s eyes, those cold, hard, calculating eyes. The eyes of a hunter, the eyes of a killer, as she stared right at her and said all that.

Had she always been like this?

- _No… Kemui-sama’s always been kind around me…_ \- maybe that was the problem… she only knew one side of the woman really. She couldn’t understand this person standing in front of her… didn’t _want_ to understand them or accept what they said.

It made her angry, “Shut up.” The girl’s voice was low, filled with a growl as her brows furrowed lower, “You don’t know what you’re saying,” her fists clinched at her sides, “You don’t know what this feels like,” her head rose, glaring with her dead partner’s headband at the woman she thought she’d known, “You and Tougemichi loved to tell me all the time how I couldn’t understand because I wasn’t one of _you_ ,” she pointed at the white haired woman, “ _Now_ it’s my turn to say it, you’re not a Konoichi, you’re not my mother, and you’re not even my _Teacher_ anymore, you’re not _one of **us**_ ,” progressively she had stepped closer to the woman, growling all the while until she was looking up at her coming up to the woman’s chest, “So don’t _tell **me**_ how this feels or how its suppose to **_help_** me!!” she didn’t even feel like fully glimpsing the woman’s face, too angry by her words Yorihi just growled and stormed off, needing to find somewhere that she could be alone.

Kemui was left standing there, completely still.

Once the girl was far enough away her hands finally clinched into fists and her jaw tightened.

“Well shit,” a voice from the shadows called out, “Didn’t think she’d reach that rebellious stage until she was thirteen, at least,” Reki walked out rubbing her chin as she looked down the hall, “Kid really is a fast grower huh?”

A white brow tried not to twitch, in fact the assassin tried to avoid looking at the desk clerk.

The tall tan woman just frowned, “She’ll get over it…”

Surprisingly the pale woman’s shoulders lowered slightly, “I’m not very good at this am I?”

“On a scale of one to ten?” Reki walked up to her friend with a raised brow, “Yea, you suck…”

Amazingly that brought one side of her pale lips up slightly.

The older woman smirked, “Though really what were you expecting, telling her all that?”

The assassin gave the barest sigh, “I’m responsible for what happened, how she feels, she deserved to know the truth…”

“Bullshit,” Reki snorted, staring out the window, “Were you the one that fired nearly two dozen arrows into that boy? Were you the one that set that trap? Hell were you the one that literally stabbed her in the heart so she couldn’t save his punkass?”

A legitimately angry look met Reki’s lazy black gaze.

The desk clerk just continued smirking, “All you did was assign the bastard to her,” a tan hand came down on the shorter woman’s pale shoulder, “Everything else is just how the world turns,” Reki turned around, down the hall her disgruntled granddaughter went, “Though I do gotta agree with her on one thing!”

Kemui watched the black haired woman walk down the hall, curious what she was going to say next.

“If you’re going to bother explaining the real reason we bother with pairings,” dangerous black eyes smirked at the white woman over a tattooed shoulder, “Send someone that knows what the fuck they’re talkin’ about!” as Reki turned back she waved over her shoulder, “I’ll talk to her, after all I’ve had three moody teenagers in my life go through this bullshit already, why not another!”

Kemui would probably never admit it out loud, but at that moment she was extremely grateful for the woman that had once taken her in and raised her as her own.

\----

Out on a platform Yorihi was moping, leaning over the railing as Reki calmly walked up, ashtray in hand, cigarette in mouth and wordlessly walks up beside the girl.

Yorihi, with her spherical vision knew her Grandmother was there and just frowned more, tightening her arms around her head, “Here to lecture me too?”

“Lecture? Pfft…” the black haired woman snorts out smoke, “I’m taking a smoke break…”

A tattooed brow rose, “Baba, you’re always smoking…”

Another breath of toxic smoke before the woman places the death stick in her mouth and reaches for another, “And this is one of the places I generally take smoke breaks…” she manages to pull one out and casually hands it over towards the girl, “Want one?”

That curious brow rises higher as she turned to the older woman, confused by the gesture, “Why?” despite her question the ‘blind’ girl takes the small papery stick and seemed to roll it between her fingers. A frown passed the girl’s face as she snorts away smoke, shaking her head, “Mei-chan says you’re addicted and that these things are bad for your health…”

“HA!!” the older woman shamelessly laughs, “She would,” a couple snickers are all that’s left as the woman’s black eyes fondly look at her ‘granddaughter’, “But ever thought there were other reasons?” she nudges the kid while reaching up to take her own cigarette out of her mouth, “like maybe it’s just a comforting habit that helps me forget the years,” her hand idly waves in front of her, listless as a nostalgic haze passes her eyes before something seems to snap back into them as she turns to the younger girl with a smirk, “Or maybe it’s just one of the ways I keep a steady supply of one of my best weapons nearby?”

Cyan-tattooed brows piqued before rising significantly as the smirking older woman raised her free hand, performed a few seals and breathed out a puff of smoke that took the form of a small dragon, “Whoa!!” behind her hitae-ate Yorihi’s eyes go wide, never seeing such a thing on such a small scale, “Baba…?”

The older woman is grinning ear to ear before she waves her hand and the miniature ash dragon dissipates into nothing, “Keep that between us, kay?” she gives a superfluous wink that had Yorihi half convinced most people in the village know about the woman’s ash manipulation, but it was endearing anyway.

“Mm,” the younger girl nods enthusiastically… before the drain of why she was even out there settled back in and she turned to lean on the railing again, twiddling the cigarette her grandmother gave her.

“Here,” casually the old smoker had her cheap lighter out and by the girl, a smirk on her face that wasn’t very convincing or conniving, “Might as well try, right?”

The pouting frown that spreads on the girl’s face is somewhat adorable and with a halfhearted shrug she concedes, bringing the odd smelling thing to her lips like she’d seen her grandmother do a million times and letting the woman expertly light it. Having no idea how one went about ‘smoking’ she just did what she’d seen Reki do, she inhaled… “Ack!” only to immediately cough and exhale, “Ugh!!” the pale girl pulled the cigarette away from her mouth and stuck out her tongue, utterly disgusted, “It’s like breathing fire!!” after a few more coughs and rubbing her throat wanting to get the feel of burning ash out of it she tossed the lit cigarette over the side…

A loud boisterous laugh broke out next to her, “Hahaha!!” Reki wiped away a tear, laughing so hard, watching her granddaughter fail miserably at her favorite pass time, “Yea, I guess it is an _acquired_ thing…”

“Bleh,” again the girl stuck out her tongue, spitting even over the railing and wanting nothing more than to get the charred flavor out of her mouth. After a moment or two she wiped her arm across her mouth, “How do you put up with that every day?”

“Hmhmhm,” the older woman chuckled in her throat, crossing her arms after setting the ash tray down on the railing, “You get used to it,” the smirk rose on the desk clerk’s face as the little girl ‘glared’ at her with furrowed brows, “Tell me,” Reki nodded to Yorihi, “You ever going to try that again?”

“Ugh,” again sticking her tongue out, “Hell no…”

Oddly the smirk rose on the older woman’s face as her thin eyes took in the girl, “And why’s that?”

The blind girl faced away slightly, mostly rubbing her mouth as the taste was still lingering, “It’s like breathing in fire and tastes horrible…”

“And?” a black brow rose, “How would you have ever known that if you’d never tried it first?”

That caught Yorihi’s attention as the girl slowly turned on the older woman, frown marring her pale face behind her armguard, “I thought you said you weren’t here to lecture me…”

A snicker from the older woman as she turned more to watch the mountainous horizon, “Never said I was,” she rolled her tattooed shoulder at the younger girl, “Just askin’ a pretty simple question,” a black brow rose accusingly smug to the little girl, who only pouted and ‘looked’ away.

“You don’t understand…” the blind girl growled.

A snort of smoke, “Kid, I understand plenty,” a tan hand reached out, grabbing the ash tray and snubbing out the cigarette, “Hell I probably understand better’n any of the others you call ‘family’…” Reki didn’t have to turn to know the girl was ‘glaring’ at her again; she was pretty bad about her chakra leaking out when angry. – _Then again, her parents aren’t the best examples out there…_ \- there was a bit of chuckle from the desk clerk before she turned to look at the little girl, leaning slightly on the railing, “Kid you’re not the first person to lose their partner gruesomely, nor will you be the last,” she pointed at the girl showing a surprising amount of seriousness in those thin black eyes, “Trust me on that…”

A frown crossed Yorihi’s lips like a bad taste wouldn’t leave her mouth, “What Kemui-sama said…” her tattooed brows knitted together, “It’s not true… it can’t be…”

“It is,” the way the older woman said it was so casual it actually startled the younger girl. Black eyes stared hazily out into the distance, ignoring the gapping of her granddaughter, “We’re the smallest of the five great nations yet we are the hardest and with one of the strongest militaries, and it’s not our numbers that make us so harsh,” the dragon breathed out smoke from her nostrils as she snubbed out the spent filter in her trusty ashtray, “Our shinobi are the strongest individually because we have some of the coldest, harshest training there is, an entire system designed to heartlessly abuse and butcher our own pain into strength,” solemn black eyes turned to the younger girl, eyes that spoke of experience and heartaches Yorihi could now understand, “What Kemui said was true, the system is designed to take advantage of our suffering, to make us stronger, if pairs survive, that’s good,” the desk clerk gave a halfhearted shrug as she turned to stare into the distance, leaning on her elbows as she brought out another cigarette, “but the reality is within the first year about half our newly graduated genin get killed one way or another, another quarter quit, so what does that leave us with?” that black brow rose rhetorically, “Just those that are hardened, with experience no one should have to face…”

A tight frown pulled at Yorihi’s lips as various emotions ran through her. She didn’t want to hear it but she couldn’t help but do so. Kemui-sama had said it, now Reki-baba was saying the same thing… but the way her grandmother said it… made it obviously, painfully true. The older woman knew her pain, understood her loss…

Wordlessly another cigarette was in her face, she didn’t have to look to know the solemn look on the older woman’s face.

The young genin sniffled, taking the damn thing but not doing anything with it, just holding it in front of her as she leaned on the railing, “Baba…” her voice was so low, almost broken, “What was it like?” she didn’t have to elaborate, they both knew what she was saying.

A tan hand rose up, gripping the cigarette in the older woman’s mouth as her eyes had that hazy nostalgic look about them, “I was fifteen, we’d been partners for nearly two years,” a smirk picked at the edge of the older woman’s lips that neither made mention of, “We were in some skirmish with Iwa and we were hotshot assholes thinking we could bust our asses out a field promotion…” Reki glanced down, noticing Yorihi holding out the cigarette, she gave a sad smile, lighting it without thought as she pulled hers out, breathing out a cloud of ash, “She was cut in half right in front of me… nothing noble about it, just one second we’re fighting toe-to-toe with these low chuunin trying to get out, next…” a tan hand made a gesture like cutting through her chest and head up vertically, “It was a horrible thing to witness,” she flicked the ash off her cigarette, noticing Yorihi just held hers, not smoking it but not putting it out either, “Unfortunately that image is burned into my brain…”

“You’re eyes,” it was a statement not a question as the younger girl seemed to finally snap enough out of her daze to put the thing in her mouth, take one drag and start coughing again, “Ugh…” a soothing hand came over her back, helping to rub out the coughs and gagging and the younger girl would never say just how comforting it was at that moment.

“Yea, pretty much, first time I activated them too…” Reki said dryly, chin propped on her hand, cigarette back in her mouth as she just stared off into the horizon, “ ‘Bout one of the worst things about these eyes is the crystal clear detail. You remember everything you see with them… and already I remember everything…”

The girl sniffled again, her eyes watering under her hitae-ate. She didn’t want to cry… but the smoke was bothering her eyes.  Reki’s hand didn’t leave her back, and Yorihi didn’t attempt to take another drag, just burying her head in one arm as the other held out over the abyss a lone cigarette burned down to the filter.

\----

The next morning had Yorihi awake and alert long before the sun even rose. She sat up in bed, eyes closed and casually reached out for the hitae-ate to cover her eyes. after talking with her Grandmother the woman took her to get the thing a new band, same color as her old one but shorter like his, saying she couldn’t walk around with one soaked in blood and smelling like burnt corpses. She hadn’t felt that it did but she wasn’t going to argue with the older woman, at the moment she was one of the few people she didn’t feel any animosity towards. Reki knew how she felt and wasn’t going to say or push her in any direction, the rest of her family worried, she could tell, but part of her was too fed up and angry at the moment to respond to them with any kind of kindness.

So she took the new dark blue band with his plate on it and secured it around her head. It was only once that was done that she finally sighed and addressed the foreign presence in her room, “I could have you killed for being in here.”

A moderately sized man in a black trench coat and ANBU outfit stepped out of the shadows, a red tinted fox faced mask grinning at her over his face, its long ears wrapped around his head and nearly blended with his rough long red hair. He made a dramatic bow, “I’m glad to see you are aware of my presence,” he stood, putting his gloved hands into his pockets, “And that you understand I am not here to harm you.”

“I’ve had plenty of people in my room try to harm me,” the girl tried to keep her voice even but it still came out with a bit of a growl as she threw off her covers and stood next to her bed in nothing but her usual sleep attire; a large dark tee shirt and underwear. Nonchalantly she moved to her dresser, pulling off her shirt and throwing it to the ground as she pulled out her battle gear.

The ANBU in the shadows made no motion; neither surprised or offended by her lack of care at his presence.

As she threw on her sleeveless shirt and shorts she decided she didn’t much like this man or his stupid grinning mask. After fastening her weapons belt and slipping on her sandals she turned to him, tattooed brows low and obviously glaring at the man, “I assume we’re going now.”

Something about his stillness made her think he was grinning, or maybe it was just that stupid fox mask. Soundlessly the man stepped forward, placing one hand on her head and the other making several seals. In a _poof!!_ They were gone, no longer in Yorihi’s room but instead in a dark room looking like a cell.

A tattooed brow rose, this looked oddly similar to that torture cell illusion her Grandmother put her in a long time ago.

“This will be your room,” the grinning Kitsune spoke plainly.

“Looks familiar,” Yorihi couldn’t help but quip, wondering how the man would take it.

He did nothing and that partially annoyed her, “For the next few months this is where you will be when not on missions,” he walked around the small room, trailing his hand along the small table and desk, “After a month if you’ve proven valuable we can negotiate your privileges,” he stopped momentarily at the dresser.

“Privileges?” the blind girl’s voice was flat but she was honestly surprised by what the man was suggesting.

He gave a curt nod, “Yes, privileges,” he turned on his heel, facing her with that mask and his hands behind his back, “In all ANBU companies there’s a training period, often involving isolation and grueling treatment, we need to know you can survive,” ever so slightly his mask tilted down and Yorihi wondered if that was a sympathetic slip on his part, “You have been chosen, like the rest of us, because you have _survived_ out there, lived through great sacrifice, we are here to see if you can live up to that sacrifice and serve the Village further…”

“I’m here because my partner died,” there was a bitterness in her voice as she lowly spoke those words.

The man didn’t move, “We have all been through that,” another unusual pause, “We don’t advertise this, but no one in ANBU is without that sacrifice,” the line-eyes of the fox mask bore into her plate, “We understand.”

Yorihi could feel her eyebrows crinkle and her jaw clinch, she couldn’t stand looking at this man.

From behind him the man pulled out a white mask, it had thin black lines for eyes, a small ‘V’ half way down resembling a beak and feather looking wings off the sides meant to wrap around the head. He step forward and held it out to the young girl, “You are here because the Raikage and the Commander of Company H believe you have the skills to be here. I am here to see if they are correct.”

The angry girl lifted her head, her focus going from the mask on the man’s face to the one in his hand, “Is this supposed to be my mask?”

“An owl,” he spoke plainly as she finally reached up to take it, “I’ve been told you are quite the silent hunter, it seemed appropriate.”

A tattooed brow rose on Yorihi’s face as she turned the white bird mask over in her hand, before tilting her head in his direction, “And yours?”

There was a small tilt to his mask as if he were grinning, “A cunning hunter.”

She finally turned the thing over, feeling the metal lining before raising it and putting it on her face. It fit well.

“Welcome to the Blood-Hunters, Fukurou.”

\-----

The next two months of Yorihi’s life were gruesome. The first consisted of general endurance training, or at least what she’d consider ‘general’ thanks to her Grandmother. She’d actually laughed during one of the interrogation sessions saying she’d already been taught by the best. The damn kitsune as she’d come to call her ‘handler’ hadn’t seemed amused, or she liked to think since he showed absolutely no emotion. For the first month he was the only other member of ANBU she’d come in contact with and he’d plainly informed her no one in Company 5 knew or worked with anyone else, they were simply given their missions, did them, and the results were given to their ‘handlers’ so there was no need for contact. Part of her could see the logic, the rest of her thought it was stupid, but that may have just been the lingering resentment for the entire situation.

Once the first month of ‘training’ had been completed and she assumed she’d passed she had been given a mission dossier. That’s when she learned why they were called ‘Blood Hunters’.

“We are the ones that participate in the Blood Hunt, seeking bloodlines, techniques, and any valuable skills from rival Villages, clans and long dead ones to strengthen our own.” Was basically how the Kitsune had put it.

Company 5 were the ones that went on the prowl in other nations for people like her and Yugito, hell they were probably the reason she and her aunt were even in the Village Hidden in the Clouds to begin with. Part of her felt bitter about that.

She’d finished her first assignment quickly. Convincing a young girl who’d been sold into slavery to join Kumo because her ‘owners’ had no idea she was a remnant of a bloodline nearly wiped out in the purges in Kiri. The Kitsune had seemed ‘pleased’, giving her a stack of ‘binding seals’ as he put it since she obviously had a talent for ‘capture’. She had frowned behind her mask, putting the seals in with the rest of her gear and going back to her room.

“Come with me Fuku-chan,” there was an odd tone to his voice and it took Yorihi a moment to realize it was mirth.

Without thinking her feet turned around and she followed the man without a word. He had his hands tucked into his long black sleeves as he guided her through the black tunnels of Company 5’s barracks. He finally reached a door and reached a hand up, pulling off his mask, “From this point, no masks.” When his was removed it seemed to disappear.

Yorihi couldn’t see his face in the darkness but she could feel the difference, it felt weird to her but she did as instructed, reached up for her mask and pulled it off, tucking it away into her back pouch.

It was at that point the man opened the door and both of them had to cover their faces from the harsh external winds and weather. It was a rope bridge far below the village, obviously caught in a storm cloud that they quickly ran across, coming to another tunnel that spiraled up into a secret entrance of one of the lower floors of the Raikage’s tower. The moment they stepped into somewhere Yorihi recognized she blinked, stopping still and realizing where she was: Home.

The shaggy red haired man in front of her realized she had stopped and turned around just enough that she could finally see his face, tan skin, brown eyes and an ‘X’ scar on his left cheek with another slash above his right eye. She knew this man and he was smiling lightly at her.

It was rather ungraceful but the first thing she said to him was, “You’re the chef from the Udon stand!!”

The man blinked a moment then laughed something deep and mirthful, “Luckily we’re nowhere anyone will hear that,” once his chuckle was down he looked at her with something seeming like pride, “Now, if you keep quiet I can take you to my shop and you can enjoy a bit of free time.”

A bit of red spread on the young girl’s face but she firmly nodded.

As they passed her Grandmother’s desk the black haired woman didn’t even look up from her magazine, “Aki.”

“Kuro,” Was the chef’s simple response.

They both had matching smirks and Yorihi didn’t bother stopping to ask about it. Her Grandmother’s narrow black eyes glanced up long enough to send the girl a reassuring smile then went back to her ‘work’. In Reki-speak that meant she was glad to see she was okay and she’d handle anything that came up.

All Yorihi could do was nod back to the woman and catch up to her ‘handler’.

Being out in the Village again was like when she’d come back from her training with Tougemichi. It had only been a month but it felt so different. The storm from the bridge down below was nowhere near up here, in the Village proper it was bright, sunny, just the start of another day.

It made her both happy and terribly sad to see it.

“It always hits you,” a deep voice spoke from her right, she’d nearly forgotten he was there, “Every time we come up out of that darkness, take off the masks, and see the light from up here,” he breathed in deeply a gentle smile making it to his face, “It makes me happy I’m here, able to see it.”

“Is it…” Yorihi bit her lip not realizing she’d started speaking until she stopped. He didn’t move to look at her but she’d grown used to reading him without overt gestures, “Is it really worth all this, what we do?”

“How do you feel right now?” he spoke plainly then crossed his arms, “The real heroes are those that sacrificed themselves so we could be here right now, so we don’t do it for the sake  of heroism or recognition, we live on carrying their resolve and dreams, keeping this place they died for alive.”

Yorihi stopped to think about his words. The past month had felt so much longer but in that time she hadn’t really had a chance to think about her partner, his death and how she’d felt at the time. Thinking on it now, it hurt, it still hurt so much but there was enough distance she could think about it. She looked around her, at the sun rising over the mountains, the people coming out, the shops opening up, the Village coming to life.

She felt… okay.

The man smiled next to her, “You’ve got an hour, spend it wisely,” he took off towards his stand, “I should have breakfast ready by then.”

By the time he glanced back the girl was gone.

\-----

There was a knock on Kemui’s door and the moment she had it open there was a strong grip around her and one phrase muttered into her chest, “I’m sorry…”

Grey eyes blinked a moment at the suddenness but looked down to see dark blue hair, braids on the sides of the girl’s head, dark blue clothing and a set easily recognizable swords hanging of her waist. When the hug tightened a bit more, obviously becoming that much more desperate the woman just sighed, taking her hand off the door and resting it on the girl’s head while the other wrapped around her shoulders, “There’s nothing to apologize for…”

The girl just shook her head denying the white woman’s claim but said nothing more.

Kemui hugged the girl a moment more but knew she didn’t have a lot of time, “Go see your father, he’s been worried about you…”

Yorihi leaned her head back, sniffling as she stared at the woman through her forehead protector, “Tell Shiro-kun I miss him.”

“I will,” a slight smile rose on the older woman’s face, rubbing the girl’s head again before pushing her away slightly, “Go on.”

With another sniff she finally let go standing there for a moment biting her lip before disappearing down the hall.

\-----

The Raikage was sitting on the couch in his office, staring out at the morning atmosphere of his Village, a permanent scowl seemingly affixed to his face.

Then he felt a familiarly large chakra signature pop up out of nowhere and latch onto his neck. No words were needed as the large Oni chuckled while his daughter hugged him.

\-----

Yorihi had managed to rendezvous with her handler a few minutes before he was finished making breakfast noodles. The red haired scarred man had frowned at her as he was still straining the noodles and throwing in a few eggs, “You still have five minutes.”

The small girl just shrugged, grabbing a pair of chopsticks and separating them clean down the middle, “I got done what I needed to…”

For a moment his brown eyes stared at her then he turned back to his cooking, “It’ll still be another five minutes.”

She just shrugged, using the time to think a few things through.

\-----

The next month was much more lenient then the first, still brutal due to the nature of the missions but overall ‘less’ harsh as the first. The Kitsune knew she didn’t need to be monitored extensively or even need some of the more depriving training for ANBU, it seemed the Black Oni had handled some prior training with the girl making his job significantly easier. By the end of the second month she got her missions, handled them, and any down time was hers to come and go as she pleased. Her ‘training’ was completed successfully now it was only a matter of her handling her missions.

The Kitsune made it to his charge’s room, setting the new dossier for another target for her while holding a folder he had received from the Raikage the day before.

She was already up, sharpening one of her kunai and seeming to pay him little attention.

“The Raikage has made a request,” he held up the folder gaining her attention, “This mission can be completed in tandem with your next assignment, I would suggest prepping for heavy resistance.”

Her owl mask rose, staring at him with its line-eyes, “What is the mission?”

His gloved hands went behind his back as he repeated the information he had been given, “The Civil War in Kirigakure no Sato ended some time ago. The Raikage feels it is pertinent we assert our power to the new governing body, I agree with this and both of us feel it would be very educational for you,” at the mention of ‘Kiri’ he noticed her hands stop and grip tighten.

Fukurou was silent and still.

The Kitsune continued, “You will be assigned to work with a former ANBU, her primary mission is delivering the Raikage’s message to the new Mizukage and to assist you on your hunt. Is that clear?”

“I will have a partner this mission?” it was very small but the tone in her voice lowered just slightly.

The man’s fox mask tilted suggesting he was amused, “You’ve worked with her previously and I am confident you will do fine.” With the discussion over the red haired man in black turned around and left before the girl could get a word in.

He was lucky, as a moment later the Kunai she’d been sharpening when through the door.

\-----

Kemui walked the familiar halls of ANBU headquarters, clad in her travel kimono and her old white wolf mask with the right eye that had a scar and slash marks over it. It been years since she’d worn the thing and longer since she’d set foot in these halls. No one paid her any mind, it was a strange shift considering before everyone had had their guard up around her and either ran away at the sight of the ‘scarred wolf mask’ or tried to kill her. It was odd how much things changed in over a decade.

Quickly she made it the girl’s quarters, pausing momentarily before taking off her mask and entering.

The girl was sitting on her bed without her mask, tense with the folder for their mission sitting next to her. It was obvious what was bothering her, the new mission to Kiri obviously bringing up memories of her partner dying. The Assassin steeled herself, not wanting to bring it up, “Yorihi,” the girl raises her head, “Get ready, we’re going to Kiri…”

Yorihi’s tattooed brows quirk down, “What do you mean Kemui-sama?”

“The new Mizukage has been chosen, their civil war is over,” she crosses her arms, “Your Father wants to send someone to start ‘negotiations’…”

The girl tsks, “You mean politely threaten them into giving us something so we don’t raze them to the ground…”

“Basically,” a light smirk crawls onto the older woman’s pale lips, “I, of course, am more discreet with my threats, and your Father trusts me to keep Kumo’s interests and threats quite known…”

The girl slightly frowns, “So why am I going?”

Those grey eyes soften, “Aside from learning from this diplomatic mission, something your father never quite learned,” a light sigh as the woman seemed to chide the large Oni in front of his daughter, causing a _slight_ smirk to raise on the girl’s lips, “We will be going there to discuss what happened to you…”

The girl’s lips and brows flattened… not liking that response.

Kemui’s features softened lightly, “We will get answers for this, someone _will_ pay, but you must come with me to see that happen…”

The girl scoffed, “I can’t _see_ anything Kemui-sama…”

Something sharp entered the woman’s eyes, “Either way you are coming, you have an assignment to find a Yukionna in the islands around Kiri anyway,” the girl visibly stiffened, apparently not expecting the woman to have looked into her mission files and use that to coerce her to come. Kemui did _not_ cross her arms and look at the girl _smugly_ , “You have two hours to get ready, then we leave, first to deal with the Mizukage, then I will support you in your bloodhunt…”

Idly Yorihi fiddled with a loose flap on her pants, brows and lips flat, listening but not paying attention... at least she wasn’t being angry.

Kemui just stood by the door, not sure what to do… she’d lost people, nearly lost Jin a few times, but she never acted like this… as far as she knew. – _Perhaps…_ \- the thought started with a pause, before she shook her head, letting it flow – _if I had lost Jin back then…_ \- she just sighed, turning to leave the girl to her packing.

“Kemui-sama,” a tiny voice called, halting the assassin who turned back to the girl, “Why do you have four braids?” it was an odd question, the curling of the woman’s white brow showed that, but all Yorihi did was lower her head, “I’ve wanted to ask since Tougemichi mentioned it…”

Kemui just looked at the girl, it was something she’d never really thought about telling her… but… the older woman turned back fully to the girl, grey eyes sharply on the girl, part of her starting to understand how she must have felt. – _she lost someone important…enough to lose herself, and I know all there is about that kind of loss_ \- the assassin took several steps forward, stopping only a few feet from the girl, “When I was the same age as you when you began training under Senshu, he had come to our village to pick a student,” both of them snorted, knowing the old man wouldn’t have willingly picked anyone as his student, “If not for what I did, it’s likely he would have left with no student…”

A small edge lifted on Yorihi’s lips, nodding slightly in agreement.

Kemui smiled at the girl responding, then it slipped away as the memories entered her mind’s eye, and part of her knew the girl would see it, “I drew my knife and stabbed it into my right eye,” despite her monotone voice the girl seemed to shiver, stiffen and stifle a small gasp, “I pulled the useless organ out and threw it at his feet, offering it as payment so he would train me…” Yorihi’s head slowly rose, as if she truly was focusing solely on the older woman, “he gave me my first braid, telling me the person I was before doing that was long dead, and someone new stood in her place,” a minute smile picked at the older woman’s lips at the oddly ‘bonding’ memory of the old man, “Someone stronger, someone willing to give, but I should never forget who I _was_ so I could continue forward…”

Yorihi could only ‘stare’, looking directly at the _pair_ of grey eyes, “But, Kemui-sama…”

The woman had that half-smile on his lips, “The right is a fake,” unconsciously her hand rose to trail a pale figure under the mentioned eye, “Originally it was R&D’s first _working_ attempt at a functioning prosthetic eye, this one had been upgraded for my mission six years ago.”

Yorihi gulped, seeming to stare a moment, mouth slightly ajar but her focus obvious, “the second?”

That neutral look overcame the woman’s features, “after the Nibi destroyed my village, and I was named…” the braid had actually come from being sold to R&D, but she didn’t want to tell the girl anything about that. Looking back, the Assassin wasn’t entirely sure what ‘ _exactly_ ’ made her put on the new braid, so much happened in such a short time in her life; returning to the village, its destruction, being named, R&D’s torture, the war over Uzu… then Reki handing her a vest, calling her a human being…

The intent way Yorihi was ‘looking’ at her told the older woman she knew there was far more to her ‘story’ then what she’d said… and months ago she would have pressed her for information, but now, she simply nodded, understanding, “The third?”

Kemui was silent for a long time.

“Kemui-sama?” Yorihi called to the white woman, seeing, feeling just how still she was, if she weren’t able to ‘see’ the woman she would have thought she’d vanished.

Then in a low, nearly broken voice the woman spoke, grey eyes cloudy and not even registering the girl was there, “When your father became the Raikage…”

Yorihi looked at her, truly and utterly looked at the woman, she was so still, so frozen… so dead it honestly surprised the girl. – _and it deals with Otou-sama becoming the Raikage?_ \- she knew her history well enough, how her Father, like all other Raikage before him staged a coup and killed his father to take the hat, in the middle of a war no less… part of her had thought that was foolish, such a time to pick to commit the coup everyone _knew_ was coming eventually, but her Father had managed to swiftly and decisively end the war, in Kumo’s favor no less soon enough. Kumo and Konoha always seemed to be at war, that seemed to be the basis of most of the conflicts, but her Father managed to end it for a short time… in fact they hadn’t been to war with Konoha for over a decade, that was impressive.

But the look and stiffness that came over her Teacher spoke of something else, something deeper and far more painful… emotions the young girl would normally never have associated with her Teacher, let alone the woman’s opinion of her Father. – _What happened?_ \- she knew, from rumor as it wasn’t exactly something one would put in history books, that Kemui was the ‘Last Assassin’, her clan being wiped out the same time as the coup. Many said she did it, hell Tougemichi said _she_ did it, and Yorihi had perhaps the closest insight into how both she and the ‘assassins’ thought and all things pointed to her killing them off to protect _her_ Lord…

So why, when Yorihi looked at the woman, something in the back of her mind told her that wasn’t it. Killing off her clan would have been a rash but necessary evil; it wasn’t something that would affect her enough to ‘die’ over. - _What happened, Kemui-sama?_ -

But just like that, the woman was closed, shut tight and never going to reveal this one thing under punishment of death.

Yorihi couldn’t help the small smile that flitted on her lips, finally starting to understand the emotions of her longtime Teacher, and her own.

The silence continued, heavy and strained, until Yorihi finally asked, “What happened while I was gone…” she didn’t have to explain, the white woman would know.

There was a slight nod, “A lot happened,” a pale hand unconsciously lowered from her crossed arms, landing on her stomach, a bit of a blush came to Yorihi’s cheeks when she noticed and understood the gesture, “But who I was died there…” when Yorihi’s focus came back to the woman’s face there was that serene content gaze, the one she assumed the woman got when she accepted she would be a real mother. The one she rarely got from the woman as a child.

The blush didn’t quite leave the young girl’s face, she was growing up and getting used to things and information she didn’t know if she wanted to know or things she felt but didn’t know if she wanted to feel. ‘Growing up’, in her already convoluted life as a shinobi, was quite confusing and scary.

Kemui just seemed to watch her a moment, then give that light barely-there smile, “Get ready, we leave in a little while…” always professional, always the perfect whatever-she-needed-to-be-at-that-moment.

The blind girl only nodded, as the woman turned to leave the room. Something itched in the back of Yorihi’s mind, something that wouldn’t let her go, “Kemui-sama…” the girl asked feebly, “Does it help?”

The woman looked back at her, something unreadable in her grey eyes, “No,” she said softly, turning away from the girl, “But it’s not supposed to, only remind us of what we’ve lost…” and with that she left.

Yorihi sat on her bed, staring at nothing, feeling nothing, sensing nothing… she had no idea how the ‘assassins’ could do what they did, carry so much weight like it was nothing. Her deaths, her kills, bared clearly and within touching distance constantly… - _how do you do it Kemui-sama…_ -

Without thinking, the girl reached behind her, grabbed her hair, split it in three strands and started braiding it into one long braid. She doubted she would do as her Teacher did, each thin braid meaning a death in her life for Yorihi knew she’d died several times already; coming to Kumo, the Nibi, the Caves, the Academy, Uenkai… so this wasn’t for that. No, this was for living, to remind her every day she was alive despite all that, like what her Teacher did without realizing it. – _I’ll carry that weight… and stand tall because of it…_ -

\-----

Fukurou – Owl (reference to ‘Kotan koru Kamuy’ – ‘God who protects the Village’ in Ainu mythos)

Aki – Red

Kuro – Black


	7. Snow Woman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mizukage, Yorihi... Shinobi Diplomacy, at its finest!

When Terumi Mei imagined her life she never really saw herself becoming the Godaime Mizukage. Even more so, she never expected to have gained the title after six years of civil war, watching friends and family fighting each other over stupid reasons, casting blame, and killing one another only for it to all end because no one remembered what it was all for anyway. She did, she had stood right there as the Yondaime Mizukage’s head fell off his shoulders, his body unable to contain the Sanbi and the damn thing trotted off to gods’ know where only for that backstabbing prick Seisui to pin it all on her. Luckily many supported her ideas and his idiotic plea of ‘she’s a bloodline user, obviously it was her!!’ lost him many votes. But pig headed assholes never accepted defeat and that’s what lead them down such a bloody and futile path.

So here she was, almost thirty as the best years of her life were wasted in an idiotic war and handed the blue hat because she was _literally_ the only person still loyal to the Village with any kind of notable talent. – _I should be married by now…_ \- her inner self was crying silently, most of the hot guys from the Village died in the war including all her backup boyfriends. – _It’s not fair… it’s just not fair…_ \- who was left in the Village now? Kids and old men? Either ten years too old or too young?

Terumi Mei groaned as she put on the damn hat and the damn robe, as unflattering as the antique was, time to do her _job_ for the _good of the Village_ as those old bastards put it. – _The moment I find a replacement… I’m marrying the next guy who asks!_ \- Screw this!! She’d done her duty in several wars, the least she deserved was a hot guy making her breakfast dressed only in-

“Excuse me Mizukage-sama,” a flat toned voice called to her plainly from across the room.

“Eep!!” she did **_not_** squeal and hid behind the changing screen, and if anyone says so they’ll learn just how much lava burns!!

Ao, a tough man with slate blue hair up in a point and an eyepatch over one eye, just scowled as a bead of sweat ran down the side of his face. He knew Terumi was a masterful combatant on the field and an indispensable field leader… but off of it and working as her ‘assistant’ daily he was constantly reminded just how flaky the girl could be, “There’s a Kumo delegation that wants to speak with you…”

Terumi leaned out from behind the screen, her sole visible green eye glaring at the older man, “How many this time?” it seemed that ever since it was announced she was made Mizukage dignitaries from other villages, shinobi and otherwise, as well as any merchant mogul or ‘lord’ with papers wanted to talk to her, show off their massive riches and try to get her into some deal that likely would screw over her Village in its relatively weakened state. She wasn’t stupid and knew politics was a high maintenance game of chicken but it was getting a tad annoying, though it seemed Kumo would be the first of the _REAL_ Hidden Villages to start with the high stakes game. Knowing those brutes it’s likely a group of their biggest, toughest, most scarred battle-hardened bastards they had with axes and spikes everywhere! – _Actually that sounds kind of interesting…_ \- her mind started to wander, wondering if those bulky mountain men would be wearing as little as possible and if any of them would be interested in sticking around-

“Two,” Ao said flatly, totally missing as the woman nearly hit her head on the floor. The hardened veteran crossed his arms and turned away from the woman, scowl still plainly in place and obviously annoyed, “And before you ask it’s a woman and some ANBU escort.”

While the Mizukage resisted the urge to throw something at the man’s head while his back was turned, _that_ did pique her interest, “Really?” where was the threat? The challenge? She was expecting to be going at it with a mountain horde for days!! Negotiating, of course…

“I’m sure the two of them have some trick of their sleeve, no way would they send people so unarmed for a diplomatic mission…” Ao was mumbling to himself, thinking out loud and not caring how close the Mizukage was getting.

Unfortunately what she heard was: “ _No way would they send people so unaware for a desperate missus…”_

A vein appeared on the red haired woman’s temple as the rest of her face remained completely pleasant, “Who’s desperate?”

Immediately Ao’s shoulders hunched, he knew that tone of voice, it meant hell for him trying to understand the flaky woman’s leaps in logic, “Desperate?”

What the Mizukage heard: “ _Despair!!_ ”

A frightening aura encompassed the ‘young’ woman as her body-guard/assistant internally squirmed. Why was it always him and always before they had to do something important?

\-----

The Mizukage arrived an hour later, taking her seat pristinely at top the raised platform in her receiving room and giving off an air of absolute pleasantry to her guests.

Her ‘assistant’ had a bandage on his cheek, a scowl on his face, and his one visible eye was narrowly staring off at nothing while the man’s clothes seemed roughed up and his posture suggested he was favoring his left leg.

Behind her white owl mask Yorihi couldn’t help but raise a brow, grateful for the mask hiding such a gesture.

Kemui of course was perfectly poised, showing no interest, not even a glance at the large man, by Kiri standards, standing at the woman seated’s right. Holding her left hand at her side and crossing her right at her waist, Kemui gave a low bow, nearly kneeling in a crouch but Yorihi noticed she didn’t tilt her back nearly enough to be truly ‘respectful’ and her left hand was closer to her hidden blade in such a position, “Mizukage-sama, it is our honor to be granted an audience.”

The red haired woman under the blue hat with the kanji for ‘Water’ raised a brow, surprised by such pleasantry, absently stating, “A _polite_ Kumo-nin?” she had assumed her voice was low enough only Ao heard it.

Kemui made no outward motion but Yorihi knew if she could hear it the assassin could. In all honesty the young girl wanted to snort, if the Mizukage had been paying any attention she’d not only notice what _she_ had about her Teacher’s false pleasantry but also that she’d been the first to speak in this encounter, something usually the person with highest ranking would do. And the red haired woman thought _they_ were uncultured…

The Mizukage seemed to finally register she was supposed to say something in response. The woman cleared her throat then addressed the dignitaries, “No, it is we, who take pleasure in welcoming you to our fine village!” the smile was a bit too much in Yorihi’s opinion.

Having been recognized Kemui gave a polite nod before resuming her standing posture, hands in front of her clasped at waist level to show no weapons in them and that they were no threat. Yorihi kept her hand on her sword as she had been, the she assumed Kiri-ANBU hadn’t done anything yet to deter her gesture of obvious force but at this point she was starting to think the only ones left in this village were morons.

Kemui gave a pleasant disarming smile, showing none of her _true_ nature, as she seemingly gazed just below the Mizukage, “May this be a most beneficial meeting then,” and with that statement the woman’s eyes changed, her posture suddenly no longer deferential but powerful and strong, steel like eyes staring directly at the newly appointed Mizukage, “I assume you understand what these ‘pleasantries’ are all about, Mizukage-sama?”

It suddenly felt like the temperature in the room dropped by a few degrees as the new leader of Kiri suddenly felt pinned to her seat by such a gaze. Instinctively her green eyes blinked, but no the woman who had seemed so pleasant a moment ago was glaring at her like a predator to its prey. It took everything in her power to not shake her head as Terumi Mei steeled her will and glared back. – _Seems this won’t be such an easy day after all…_ \- “You wish to discuss the treaty policies put in place by my predecessor with your Village and whether or not they can be maintained.”

The predator seemed to give the barest grin, “No,” her soft polite voice continued but there was now a deadly edge to it, “I am here to _inform_ you of the wishes of my Lord, the Yondaime Raikage. We,” her right hand detached itself and waved back gracefully to reference the short ANBU at her side, “Are not here to ‘discuss’ anything, only state terms, understood.”

It was Mei’s turn to frown, her brows furrowing obviously but she kept her anger in check. Who did these Kumo-nin think they were to belittle her and her village so openly!

Ao seemed to read his mistress well, as he took a step forward and glared threatening at the _small_ white woman, “What makes you so confident you can make such bold claims, so ill-prepared in a foreign village?”

Steel daggers glanced at Ao a moment and the man froze. That was all the response needed. He didn’t know what it was, maybe a technique or something, but there was obviously something very dangerous about this seemingly unarmed woman.

Kemui returned her gaze to the Mizukage, “I am the voice of my Lord in this situation, and as stated, I am only here to _inform_ you where **_we_** stand,” boldly, at least by a negotiating standpoint, the woman tucked her hands away into her sleeves, completely hiding them which could easily be construed as an insult, “Your previous Mizukage had signed off on several assassination attempts against the Raikage and his family,” that glare could melt diamond, “those attempts were rebuffed. The only reason no action was taken at the time was due to the untimely start of your long civil war, now ended.” White brows lowered the _slightest_ fraction and so did the temperature in the room, “Where upon there was yet _another_ attempt, this time on the Raikage’s daughter’s life, halted but resulting in the loss of valuable members of Kumo.”

The red haired woman paled as each accusation left the woman’s lips in that cool clam lilting voice, each second seeming to threaten to rip out her heart. – _Who the fuck attacked them!!_ \- She was pissed!! Not only at the woman’s claims but at the prospect it might be true, or worse, **_they_** think it’s true and Kumo was _not_ known as a village that took slights easily! They burned down villages!! Pillaged landsides!! They **_destroyed_** countries because just **_one_** of theirs is threatened!! – _And **NOW** I have to deal with this!!_ \- She knew there was a reason she didn’t want to be the goddamn Mizukage!! For all she knew one of their damn assassins had been the one to-

“Wait,” deceptively calm the Mizukage raised her hand, halting the Kumo dignitary’s speech, “What proof do you have of these claims?” her hardened green eyes glared at the woman, toe-to-toe, “It seems _convenient_ your ‘lord’ saves this list of grievances until now that our war is settled to bring up wrongs of the old Mizukage,” acting suspicious, which she was, and domineering the red haired woman stared _down_ at the two Kumo-nin, rubbing her chin, “Awfully convenient timing, one could even suggest **_too_** convenient…” the implication was there, if this white haired woman from the mountains was smart she’d understand.

The _short_ ANBU gripped one of their four swords and lurched forward, only to stop when the pale woman’s right arm blocked their path.

Kemui had the barest of grins, wondering if Yorihi could see it, “That is quite the implication Mizukage-sama,” this time the honorific was actually genuine. The white haired assassin remembered the woman as one of two jounin that had been present in the room when she’d cut off the former Mizukage’s head. Part of her was glad the woman was at least competent enough to use that information against her and had the gall to do it, “Though I can assure you, _Kumo_ had nothing to do with your claims the former Mizukage was assassinated,” her barely-there smile grew into a _slight_ grin as the woman’s emerald eyes glared deeper, “but that does not abscond your village from its past slights.”

Terumi clinched her hands into fists as she glared power at the small woman, “Then think of it like this,” she took a calming breath, needing to get out what she had in mind to avoid the mountain peoples’ wrath, “The actions of my predecessor are not the actions of my people now,” she stood, staring down as strongly as she could from her slightly raised ‘throne’ in the receiving room, “We have spent the last six years shedding the blood of our brothers and sisters to put an **_end_** to the ‘Bloody Mist’,” vehemently she pointed at the ground in her fury, “My predecessor was a great man in many ways but he was a harsh and cruel leader at times.” Instinctively she closed her eyes, memories of the missions she had working for the Jinchuuriki, conflicting with her times as his friend, “I will not deny what he did, nor will I or my people take claim for his actions,” harshly she pointed down at the woman with authority, “You or your ‘lord’ want to place blame somewhere, find his grave and set your grievances there!”

Grey eyes shut approvingly as a small smirk rose on the assassin’s lips, it seemed Kirigakure truly had found itself a decent leader. Kemui gave another deferring nod, showing her respect, “Then I shall inform my Lord,” grey eyes snapped open and stared at the Mizukage threateningly, “Though it is not the actions prior to your war that have insulted us so…” there was a slight growl in the woman’s voice that was only audible due to the previous silence.

Ao tensed in front of his leader, same as the short ANBU with the white bird mask that seemed to grip their weapon tighter.

“Then state your claims,” Mei spoke with all the authority she had, retaking her seat and glaring down at the tiny white woman, “I will listen, but promise nothing beyond that.”

“Fair,” Kemui nodded again, lowering her hand, trusting Yorihi to keep her place just a bit longer. The girl was getting riled up simply _being_ here, but the Mizukage’s display, while gaining her own small approval had only proven to aggravate the young girl. Part of Kemui wanted to sigh, she truly was her father’s daughter, “Firstly, there have been many instances of boarder violations, thousands of refugees from Mizu no Kuni, many whom are bloodline shinobi, fled your country into ours during your war, leaving many missing-nin disrupting Rai no Kuni.”

“And what would your _lord_ have me do about this?” in all honesty, Mei hoped they could claim some of those shinobi back, they _really_ needed the forces.

Again that sharp look entered the white woman’s eyes, “You? Nothing,” that _light_ smirk rose on her pale lips, “All my Lord wishes is that you are informed of such, that any of your people, former or otherwise, that _tries_ anything in our boarders will be handled appropriately by our own forces, quite severely.”

Terumi gulped, trying not to slump. She got the hidden message there: _Keep your people out or we will kill them._ “Noted.”

“Secondly,” Kemui continued, grey eyes keeping the Mizukage’s, “We have reports of a branching force of shinobi in our boarder countries, claiming to be the ‘true’ Kirigakure, would I be correct in assuming these are the ‘purists’ who lost the civil war?” the woman’s eyes were deadly as they watch the Mizukage for the slightest movements.

Unconsciously the red haired woman clinched her jaw. She knew that bastard Seisui was dead but that many of his followers had gotten away. Her own forces had been trying to track them down, convince them to return, submitting to her rule or killed on the spot, it was running the few hunter-nin they had left ragged tracking all those bastards down. She tried to put the situation as tactfully as possible, “We have tracked many of them down and are working to eliminate the threat…”

“I see,” finally those threatening grey eyes closed as the woman seemed to consider the ‘hidden’ meaning. When they opened again after a while the eyes weren’t as harsh, still hard but obviously backing off slightly for some reason, “An offer, we have reason to be rid of these miscreants, we shall handle them within our boarders and provide what information we have on those we find elsewhere with your village.”

Green eyes narrowed, “And what of those that _are_ found in your boarders?” she already knew the answer but needed to hear it.

“It is best, for now,” Kemui spoke plainly and evenly, not as threatening or harsh as earlier, “That you keep what is yours out of what is ours.”

Tensely the Mizukage nodded. She knew what the hidden threat was: _For now, you aren’t strong enough to argue with us._

“And finally,” suddenly the growl was back and so was that steely glare, “There is the matter of the attempt on the Raikage’s Daughter’s life.” The woman left it there, her glare and tone of voice said it all.

They wanted blood.

Terumi Mei had to clinch her jaw tighter, stopping herself from reaching for a weapon. The sudden instinct for battle rising in her and she was sure all of her own shinobi in the room. There was a heavy, dense cloud of killing intent coming from the Kumo-nin, both of them, the sheer amount honestly surprising her that **_two people_** were capable of such hate, rage and desire to kill. She had to swallow hard, push down all her instincts and figuratively bite her tongue, “I can assure you, no one under my command issued such an order.”

Those grey eyes sharpened, “So you claim it as the responsibility of these ‘purist’ defectors?”

“Yes.” The word was practically pulled through her teeth. To make such a claim was to put a death mark on anyone baring a Kiri-emblem that didn’t work for her, and even then such loyalty might not protect them from Kumo’s wrath.

“Very well,” again the pale woman closed her eyes, seeming to consider the agreement.

That’s when the short ANBU stepped forward. The young masked girl’s motions tense and forceful as she proceeded to stand in front of the Kumo dignitary, “I want you to say it.”

All the Kiri-nin came to one startling realization. All that killing intent, all the angry chakra they’d been feeling that made this whole ‘negotiation’ so tense _hadn’t_ been coming from the dangerous woman speaking, but the _young **girl**_ with the ANBU mask. Now that she stepped forward, hand still threateningly on her sword and the eyes of her mask directed solely at the Mizukage, they all knew that the next few moments could spell a bloodbath. The Kiri ANBU made themselves known, surrounding the two Kumo-nin at a ‘safe’ distance while Ao took a defensive position in front of his village leader.

Terumi Mei had only one thing to say to the interrupting little girl, “Who gave you the right to speak, ANBU, you are here to guard your charge, not interfere with negotiations.”

That’s when probably the strangest thing happened. Kemui, the Last Assassin in Kumo, chuckled. All eyes suddenly shifted to the white haired woman as she demurely covered her lips with a hand as she turned slightly away. After giving a moment to ‘ignore’ their stares she opened her eyes and glanced at the Mizukage, “Is that how this situation seems, Mizukage-sama?”

Suddenly all the Kiri-nin got very uncomfortable, like they’d missed something obvious.

“Kemui-sama is here to _speak_ with you on account of my Father,” almost casually the hand not holding a sword ready for a fight rose, grabbing the white owl mask, “ ** _I_** am here to hear whether you claim attacking me or not,” the mask came off, and as strange as it was the Kiri-nin were not expecting to be ‘glared’ at by a steel plate with the Kumo insignia and deeply furrowed cyan tattooed eyebrows, “For I am Tenkyuu Yorihi, Daughter of the Yondaime Raikage, and you bastards killed **_my_** partner.” In an instant the girl had a Ninjato drawn and took a stance that all of them realized if she _really_ wanted to, she could suicidally charge through them and manage to assassinate the Mizukage.

Immediately the Kiri ANBU and Ao had weapons out poised and ready to take the girl out.

There was a long sigh from the Mizukage, “Stand down,” none of them did, so she stood up and descended the steps of her throne, coming up behind Ao, “I said, **_stand down._** ”

The new Kage-level bout of killing intent nearly sent the Kiri ANBU and Ao to their knees. Any protest was silenced with a glance and the group quickly parted, allowing the woman that lead them to step forward, tall, proud and in command.

Terumi Mei stopped centimeter’s from the blind girl’s blade, looking down at her with hard green eyes, “It’s a shame you cannot see my sincerity, but believe me,” she raised one hand, index finger raised and touched it to the blade’s edge, feeling a slight charge as the metal made contact with her skin, “neither I, the Godaime Mizukage, nor any of **_my_** people under my command attacked you or claimed the life of your partner, so please,” she nudged the blade with her finger, “Stand down, Tenkyuu Yorihi.”

For the longest minute plate steel and tattooed brows glared at the tall woman under the Mizukage’s hat.

Then she lowered her blade, “I believe you.”

The Mizukage released a breath she didn’t realize she was holding, “Oh thank you,” then she realized her slip, “Er, I mean… we are grateful for your trust.”

Yorihi sheathed her blade, peaking a brow at the sudden change in the woman’s attitude, “There’s no need for such formality,” she turned away, “I have what I came for…”

A red brow rose as Terumi Mei scratched her cheek, “What an odd girl…”

Kemui released a bare sigh, stepping forward, “I apologize, I fear she will be like her father when it comes to political… _finesse_.”

Terumi stared at the woman who came up next to her, now that she was standing next to her the red head couldn’t believe such a short woman had been so intimidating. – _Kumo, always full of surprises!_ \- “I’m sure she’ll grow into it,” she had no idea why she suddenly felt all chummy, must be the death threat! That’s something she can deal with! A quick glance at her men at attention reminded her this was still a rather ‘official’ meeting and everything. A quick green eyed glance at the shorter white haired woman, “So have we discussed all issues?”

Kemui had a barely there smile, “There are always minor things to discuss, but I’m sure we’ve covered all the important details…”

“AWESOME!” Terumi Mei suddenly grabbed the Mizukage robes and hat and flung them off, conveniently towards Ao, revealing her normal attire underneath as she grabbed the shorter woman around the shoulder, “You seem like someone I can have a good drink with, I’m sure we can hash out any other details over a few rounds.”

A white brow rose on the Assassin’s forehead, not sure how to interpret such a situation. She decided it was best to just indulge the woman. As they passed Yorihi who was ‘staring’ through her replaced mask, a pale hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, “You’re coming as well, your father wanted me to keep an eye on you…”

“What?!” was as far as Yorihi got before she got a slap on the shoulder from the Mizukage as well.

“Hell yea!! This can be an official delegation drinking party!! Me, the Raikage’s Daughter, his representative, we’ll paint the town, celebrating a new agreement!!” the Mizukage couldn’t help but grin, this sounded awesome, maybe she could even convince the white haired woman to be her wing woman!! And they can leave the kid somewhere… or get her a guy to! Hell yea, she was an ANBU for crying out loud! Poor thing needed a few drinks and a pick-me-up after that dick Seisui’s jerkbags killed her partner!

Yorihi was blinking behind her headband and mask, what the hell was going on? “Kemui-sama?”

“Just act like dealing with your grandmother,” Was all the assassin was going to say. That was how she was treating this situation in her mind. Mission complete, now was just dealing with a red haired Reki who was in charge of a potentially hostile village. At least they could get decent surveillance and she wondered if that one bar she used to frequent was still around...

\-----

Ao and the rest of the Kiri ANBU were left standing very confused as the tall man pulled the sacred blue and white robes off his face. Then he pinched his nose and made sure none of them spoke of this and that they were watching their Village leader in case she got too drunk and started spouting secrets… again. It was going to be a long night for him, he should really get some lackey to help him babysit the fiery woman, maybe one of those new Seven Swordsmen in training…

\-----

 After an interesting night where Yorihi learned she had an unusually large tolerance for alcohol despite her age, Kemui-sama was an expert at ‘not-drinking’ and the Mizukage gave her live examples of ‘picking up guys’ the wrong way, the two Kumo women left the Village Hidden in the Mist with relatively what they’d set out for: threatening the Mizukage into political submission, staking out their forces, and gauging the state of the village.

In both their opinions Kiri had been severely weakened due to their long civil war and despite the Mizukage’s excellent means of showing power and stability it was obvious they wouldn’t be a threat for a good long while.

Part of Yorihi still wanted to burn the place to the ground, aided by their weak forces, as every time she saw the Kiri emblem her hands tensed, she tasted metal, and felt the distinct need to stab a chakra blade through it. This was part of the reason for their short stay as despite the girl deferring to her Teacher’s judgement of **_NOT_** -burning the place to the ground, for now, the longer she stayed the tenser she became and more likely to ignore such logic. In her mind there were two of them, they were both powerful and while probably not able to wipe out the village, she knew her Teacher could take out a large amount before they knew it and she with Bachiko could burn through another good chunk, Kiri would be decimated to the point whoever came in next would wipe them off the planet. When these started to become serious battle strategies in her head her Teacher had turned her straight to the gate and told the Mizukage it was pertinent she get the red haired woman’s response to the Raikage as soon as possible…

Now they were in the back woods of the Land of Waves after spending a week tracking what may be the _last_ of the Yukionna bloodline. Ice element users had been rare in Kiri as it was as the element could literally only be used properly from _one_ bloodline, the Yukionna. And in an area surrounded in water as much as Kiri was their ice manipulation would have been invaluable to the village’s defenses. So Yorihi was baffled at the logic of the so-called ‘purists’ for effectively wiping out the bloodline.

But that was neither here nor there, in Kiri the Yukionna were officially extinct, so that meant this one running around was fair game for Kumo and R&D to get a hold of, thus her mission as a Bloodhunter to ‘acquire’ the specimen.

Kemui-sama had agreed to be her backup in the mission, allowing the girl free reign to hunt her target as needed with the comfort her former Teacher would not interfere unless her life was in jeopardy or the situation warranted it. Yorihi had been surprised, seeing the woman in her full battle gear suddenly instead of the travel kimono she’d worn most of the way. It seemed her Teacher took her role as support for the mission as seriously as she did negotiating for her Father. The older woman had given her a single glance before putting on her old ANBU mask, that of a white wolf with its long ears wrapping around her head and the right eye scarring by black claw marks and a long angled red gash.

After that point, neither spoke. The mission was enacted, the hunt began.

The main island of the Land of Waves consisted of beaches, swamp lands, inland lakes and enough forest to make shipbuilding profitable. There was a single village, large enough to be a town where the residents traded, communed and had contact with whoever came over from the mainland thanks to the major port there. It was easy enough for the two of them to scout out, determine the situation and find the target.

It was a boy; that dressed like a girl, and proved well adept at blending in with the local populace. Despite the disparity of the townsfolk under his employer he seemed undeterred to commit to his job, along with his master, to kill some bridge builder for the local business mogul. Yorihi couldn’t help but wonder at the sanity of the man’s business practices, from her understanding of business and economic finances a ruler only gained money when EVERYONE in the state was employed, working, and spending, keeping the economy going. Kumo had a constant source of internal revenue because every member of the village was a register shinobi and had access to D-ranks as early as their Academy days and any internal needs were met within the village. It kept money flowing and was one of the reasons they had the best economy of the five great Villages.

Kemui had kept silent but Yorihi was convinced the woman was making a mental note to destroy the man’s business some way financially. The blind girl had learned young that her Teacher did not take money lightly!

But that aspect was of no consequence to their mission.

From their observations the Yukionna had a fairly standard pattern, get supplies in the nearby town, return to their master’s base, then go out with him when called to ‘handle’ something from their employer. Yorihi decided the best time to confront the target was when they went on a ‘mission’ for the short businessman next, find a time when the large swordsman, Momochi Zabuza as her bingo book stated, was distracted and simply knock out the target, apply a binding seal, and evacuate as quickly as possible.

Her Teacher had suggested taking the man out when able, his sword was one of the famed Seven Blades of Kiri and highly valuable. R&D would want and their target would be more pliable should his master no longer exist.

Yorihi took the advice and agreed, stating if the opportunity presented itself they would take the blade as a souvenir.

The chance seemed to finally appear when the two missing-nin left to handle the ‘return’ of the bridge builder from his journey to Konoha, now having an escort. Yorihi sent Bachiko to survey the approaching team, determine just how much interference they could cause and report back. She was less than amused by what he told her.

“A jounin and three genin.” She stated flatly through her mask down at the cat as she and Kemui stared at the beast in the swamplands both parties were approaching.

The bakeneko’s vibrant blue eyes narrowed as he snorted at his master.

“Have him describe the jounin.” Kemui’s voice through her mask was rough and low. When wearing that mask the woman only spoke when absolutely necessary so Yorihi knew it wasn’t a question but a command.

The white owl mask nodded, having her familiar send her a picture of the man from his mind and how the jounin and the rest of the genin felt, “Seems two of them are interesting, the jounin is Hatake Kakashi, I recognize him from the bingo book. He says of the three genin one of the boys has black hair and eyes like Baba but he can’t tell if the boy knows how to use them or not. The other boy is blonde with blue eyes and whisker marks on his face, loud and annoying. The girl similar, pink hair, green eyes, no discernable traits, from his feeling she has the least chakra and seems the weak link.”

“The blonde is a Jinchuuriki,” the white wolf scratched under her chin, “The other boy is the last Uchiha Konoha can claim and the girl is from a civilian family, they’ll be little threat.”

Yorihi nodded, “Should we try capturing the Jinchuuriki?”

After a long moment the older woman shook her head, “As much as I or your father would want to, we’d have to kill Kakashi to do it, and having the last Uchiha, Copy-ninja and Jinchuuriki lost all on one mission would make too much of a scene and we don’t know about the boy’s loyalties right now,” the wolf mask stared at the owl, “We’ll observe how they react to us ‘saving’ them and consider it later…”

A smirk rose on the pale girl’s face behind her mask, “As long as we get it done quickly,” unconsciously she tugged at her collar, “It’s too hot down here.”

The way the wolf mask tilted made Yorihi almost think her Teacher was smiling.

\-----

Haku had no idea what hit him. One second he’s watching his master wipe the floor with a bunch of Konoha children, putting on a big display of laughing when their sensei decided to give them a pep talk to stop them from running, and the next something _HUGE_ made of blue-black fire roared at him and forced him out of his position.

Landing on the bank of the river he cursed behind his mask when he realized he was now in plain view of the battle. The Konoha shinobi and his master had turned to see him, senbon at the ready to fight that beast…

Only to be hit over the head with something blunt and his whole world went black.

\-----

Yorihi kept one hand on the ice user’s hands, replacing her beat rods for wire and binding the older boy tightly, applying a binding seal on his forearm and pulling him up onto her shoulder. She glared across the lake at the Konoha-nin, annoyed that the three children were left wide open as they stared and their instructor seemed little better along with the other missing-nin.

“HAKU!!” Zabuza practically yelled, drawing his headhunter sword and facing the Kumo ANBU that had tied up his apprentice, “Our fight will have to wait for now, Copy-cat Kakashi, it seems we have uninvited guests…”

Kakashi kept his hand on his headband, he had been just about to reveal his Sharingan when what looked to be a Kiri Hunter-nin dropped out of a tree only to be knocked unconscious and bound by another shinobi. There was no village identifying mark on the mask itself but he recognized the overall design. – _Kumo ANBU?_ \- depending on what the Kumo-nin’s mission was or what they did next would determine his next move. – _I could take on Zabuza with my Sharingan on his own… but a Kumo ANBU? And that Hunter-nin…_ \- something definitely wasn’t right about this situation.

The grey haired jounin turned to his students, after his efforts to give them a little pep talk now this, “Stay back, guard the client.”

“Kakashi-sensei, who’s that ninja that just showed up and the other one they’re capturing?” of course Naruto had to ask. The boy was more observant then he let on but had a tendency to rush ahead once he got an idea in his head. His blue eyes were darting between the big Kiri Missing-nin with the huge sword and the small ANBU across the lake with some other masked-nin on their shoulder.

Kakashi’s one visible eye narrowed as he tensed, “That is a Kumo ANBU and if I had to guess they’re a bloodhunter since they seem to want that Hunter-nin,” his gaze darted to Zabuza who was holding blade tightly and looked very perturbed, “Though it seems that’s made our friend here very unhappy…”

“Kumo-nin?” the hopeful way the boy said that was slightly unnerving to the seasoned jounin. The boy had it in his head that anyone from the Land of Lightning, and therefore Kumo, were okay people. He’d yet to have to face one until now and Kakashi wasn’t sure how well the blonde’s childish ideologies would last. It always came back to some woman Kakashi had never met that from Rai no Kuni that he thought was great but had died during the Uchiha massacre. As much as Kakashi didn’t like the tendency, he hoped today wouldn’t be the day they’d have to test them out.

Luckily they were spared any further conversation as Zabuza seemed to charge at the Kumo ANBU, who either wasn’t paying attention or found the man to be no threat.

It turned out to be the latter…

As Zabuza made it halfway across the lake a loud **_Ping!_** Signaled something hitting his blade, knocking it off course and sending the man spinning slightly until he steadied himself, now facing perpendicular to his previous charge ahead as his thin eyes glared at what had stopped his charge.

It was another Kumo ANBU, this one also with a white mask only its design was that of a wolf as opposed to the bird from the other one. The obvious woman with the grey over the left shoulder triangular jounin vest stood with her back to Zabuza, a short knife in her visible left hand.

Zabuza just growled, “So there was another one of you,” he gripped his headhunter sword in both hands in front of him, widening his stance and preparing for a tough battle, “Your mistake showing yourself and not killing me…”

The wolf masked ANBU turned slightly, seeming to glance at the large man through her mask.

“What, just going to stand there and stare?” Zabuza’s no-brows lowered, glaring at the intruder, “No big words, no big claims?” the growl in his voice was obvious, “You cloud-fucks have an issue with me then deal with me!! Leave that brat out of this!!”

The wolf mask just continued to silently stare.

Zabuza grew more impatient, unable to get a read on this Kumo ANBU, “I’m the demon of the bloody mist, one of the seven swordsmen, and you dare to lay a hand on my apprentice,” he released his chakra, making waves in the water around him, “Then prepare yourself, Kumo!! FOR ITS TIME TO MEET YO-” Then Zabuza suddenly stopped talking.

The wolf ANBU was now standing behind him, left arm crossed over their chest as if they’d made a slice and their right hand held out as they caught the handle of Kubikiribouchou. After a moment a line of red appeared around Zabuza’s neck and as the Kumo ANBU sheathed their own blade the body started to buckle and they reached out and grabbed the severed head, placing the large headhunter blade on their shoulder.

There was a _very_ light sigh in the silence that followed as the former demon of the bloody mist’s body started to sink, “Why do shinobi always go on long speeches? If you’re going to kill someone, kill them.” The wolf mask then turned to the Konoha shinobi, causing the genin to jump, particularly the pink haired girl to hide behind the Uchiha, “Here,” she threw the head at Kakashi’s feet, “Take the bounty,” she shrugged the shoulder with the large sword on it, “We have the real prize.”

“Wait!” Kakashi called out, stopping the Kumo ANBU as they were turning. How did she kill him? He hadn’t even seen her move, it was as if one moment she was standing staring at him, the next she was behind him and his head was falling off. He doubted if he’d had his Sharingan out he’d even see the movement. The woman was obviously deadly and too powerful for simple bloodhunts, so why was she here? “What are you two doing here, who is that boy and what do you plan to do with him?”

Kemui merely gave the man a glance from behind her mask then said as calmly as possible, “That’s none of your concern, Konoha,” then she turned, keeping her eyes away from the blonde boy who was staring at mystified, “The only reason you’re still alive is because killing you isn’t a part of our mission,” she nodded over her shoulder, “Take your consolation prize and be thankful for your lives.”

With that she signaled to Yorihi and soon they were gone.

\-----

They didn’t stick around long enough to hear Konoha’s response though Yorihi was curious about her Teacher’s actions. It didn’t seem the appropriate time to ask though.

They made their way back to Kumo significantly faster than they’d left, keeping their captive sedated and unconscious the whole time. Kemui had better medical experience and took the opportunity to teach the girl the finer details about detecting a captive’s vitals and ensuring they’ll survive long enough to be dropped off. While Yorihi had learned similar from her handler she enjoyed the bonding experience with her former Teacher, missing it far more than she realized.

When they were about a day out and taking a short rest, Yorihi couldn’t help but ask, “What’s going to happen to him?” she was referring to her charge, the androgynous boy dressed like a girl with the power of ice. He was strangely pretty, she’d admit that, and carrying had the time to examine his features. People in Kumo weren’t exactly ‘pretty’; big, rough, loud, these were the things that described Kumo and its people. While they were in Kiri she noticed the people tended to be thin and tall, like the Mizukage and that missing-nin her Teacher had killed. This boy seemed like he’d grow up similarly, just even more uncannily ‘pretty’.

“You know what will happen,” Kemui stated plainly. The woman was using her knife to chip off a bit of the large blade called Kubikiribouchou.

The girl’s first response was to frown. Yes, technically she knew what would happen to him. R&D would get him first, get their samples, do their work, then send him to the hospital to recover and if the boy proved hostile he’d be sent back to R&D where they’d do as they pleased. Her handler mentioned that this often included forced breeding or anything that would result in use of their bloodline. Nothing R&D did was pretty or ethical but that’s why they got results. While she knew all this she still wondered if there was a chance the boy would join them, like she had. – _He’d be more useful as an alley then a labrat…_ -

“Would that have happened to me,” the words were out of the girl’s mouth before she realized it and when she did, instead of drawing them back her chin rose, allowing her to ‘look’ her Teacher in the eye, “Had I not chosen to accept this life on my own?”

The chipping stopped for a moment as the white haired woman stared ahead blankly. Then slowly, ever so slowly she turned, grey eyes to plate steel and she gave the girl an honest answer, “Yes.”

Yorihi released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Oddly enough the older woman’s honesty was a comfort, a smirk rose on her pale face, “What are you doing, Kemui-sama?” she nudged her chin towards the woman’s odd activity of chipping away at a legendary blade.

Grey eyes turned back to her work, “Just taking samples of the blade to send to Senshu as well as R&D.”

A tattooed brow rose, “Not turning in the blade itself?”

An odd look crossed the older woman’s face, Yorihi was hesitant to call it childish but that was the closest she could think of, “I’ll have Uzushio-sama take a look at the seals in the handle,” at that the woman stood, securing the large blade to her back, “but outside of that it would be best if it was kept within my possession.”

That raised brow became cocky like her Grandmother showed her often, “Uh-huh,” she grabbed the unconscious pretty boy and threw him over her shoulder as she stood up, “Planning to keep it to yourself, Kemui-sama?”

The white haired woman made _tiny_ snort, as if to scoff, as she turned to head out, “I would never…”

Yorihi could only give a wide teasing grin as they set off for home.

\-----

It would be a month later when Haku was finally allowed to wake up. He found himself in a white room, surrounded by white things and not wearing the last thing he remembered wearing. A quick glance down and not only did he feel the grogginess of being immobile for an extended period of time but could also see various IVs in his arm along with several puncture marks, and again not wearing his own clothing.

“You’ve finally awaken,” a soft voice called from his left and he turned to see a pleasant looking woman with short white hair and grey eyes closing a book as she stood, wearing a comfortable if plain kimono. She crossed to the boy and looked down at him with a neutral gaze, examining his state and the look on his face, “There are many things we need to ask you, firstly, do you think you can get up?”

Not trusting his voice, Haku nodded.

The woman reciprocated, moving to the side as if suggesting he do so immediately.

Weakly at first the boy reached out and grabbed the railing of the bed then pushed his torso up despite the heaviness and stiffness he felt all over. He swung his feet around, over the edge of the bed and set them firmly on the ground. For a moment his legs buckled, trying to remember what they were used for but he quickly stood on his own.

Not once did the woman approach to help him, simply watching with those cloudy grey eyes.

The moment he was stable he released a breath, turning to stare at the woman, waiting for his next order.

The white haired woman seemed to nod, acknowledging he managed that, “How much do you remember?”

A slight grimace came to Haku’s face, “Zabuza-sama was attacking a group of Konoha shinobi in order to get to our target, I was waiting in hiding to back him up and provide an escape if necessary, when something jumped out at me, forcing me to dodge out into the open only to get hit from behind…”

Again the woman nodded, calculating her next words, “Do you know what happened to Zabuza?”

The boy’s shoulders visibly lowered as everything about him seemed hollow, “I am here, a foreign hospital, I would assume he is dead and I am a captive.”

Haku missed the slight rising of Kemui’s lips as he said that, “Very observant,” she moved to look him over, putting her hands behind her back as paused before him, “What happens to you will be determined by how you respond next.”

The boy’s empty brown eyes glanced up at the woman, awaiting his sentence.

Cloudy grey eyes stared at the boy as the next words came out without any inflection, “I am the one that cut off your master’s head.”

Silence prevailed as Haku just stared at her. For the longest time soft brown eyes stared into her grey ones as the boy seemed to be processing what she said. Then out of nowhere he fell to his knees, at first Kemui thought he had collapsed but then his fist was planted firmly on the ground and his head was bowed.

His next words truly surprised her, “I was Zabuza-sama’s weapon, he is dead, now I am yours to do with as you see fit.”

Kemui stared. She never thought she would hear someone pledge themselves to her in such a manner, it was almost as if he were a member of her clan and she had just killed his Master. Closing her eyes she nodded firmly, she understood this very well, “From this moment forth I am your master,” her eyes opened and saw the boy now looking at her with an expression between wonder and fierce determination, “You will serve me and my Master until the day you or I are dead, understood.”

“Yes,” Haku gave a firm nod.

“Very well,” the woman turned on her heel, back to where she had been seated, grabbing a bag and handing it to the boy, “Put these on and come with me.”

Haku took the package and changed as quickly as possible. The white woman, his new Master, had left him momentarily to allow him some privacy. He didn’t know why, he would have changed either way, but did so quickly and proceeded to exit the room. It seemed the woman knew of his previous attire, he wore a simple kimono similar to her own, feminine, elegant, if far more simple compared to what he was used to. He wondered, while they walked silently through the hospital, why she had chosen to give him such clothing, most people would have thought to give a boy boy’s clothing. He determined it would just be something he’d figure out later.

For now there was a much more important question, “Mistress,” that caught an odd glance from the woman over her shoulder. Haku momentarily blushed with embarrassment, feeling he was already failing his duties at his incompetence, “I failed to ask earlier, what am I to call you?”

She gave this barely there smile, “I am called Kemui, and say it however suits you.”

The brunette boy bowed his head, “Yes, Kemui-sama.”

Again with that smile, as the woman opened the main door to the hospital, allowing them outside, “And welcome, Haku, to the Village Hidden in the Clouds.”

Haku did not care how his mouth hanged open, he had never in his life seen anything like it. Outside the door to the hospital was a long suspended bridge connecting to a platform and various other bridges. Above and below were similar bridges and platforms, all hanging intricately and connected to large hive looking structures seemingly build out of the high spires of the mountains themselves. Looking over the edge of the bridge they were on he realized they were above the cloud line, below the lowest bridges were swirling dark clouds of some storm passing by underneath. The air was thin, crisp and felt different from the islands he’d spent his whole life one. There were no words he could say to properly describe the sight to him.

His new master seemed to just smile at him, amused at his reaction before turning and heading down the bridge, “Come, there is someone I’d like you to meet.”

Quickly Haku obeyed, taking in as much of the sights of this new place as he possibly could. He’d heard about the Village of Kumo from Zabuza-sama but never much on how it looked or was designed. The only bits he knew was that the people were hard to fight in the field and part of it was because they lived up in these high mountains. The place was beautiful and surreal… a part of his heart broke that he had to lose his most precious person to see it. Reminded of his failure Haku simply looked ahead, going where his new master went in a daze.

They headed towards the largest central structure bearing a large emblem with the kanji for ‘Lightning’ in the center. From what he knew of Hidden Village structure that meant this was the Raikage’s tower. He wondered if he was being taken to meet the man face to face.

As the glass doors to the main entrance opened the scent of cigarette smoke caught his attention.

“Hey, good to see you’re back,” a loud voice called over from the desk, a woman with black hair, tan skin and lazy narrowed eyes behind wireframe glasses spoke up while she was flicking ash off of a cigarette, “So this the new guy?”

His new Master, Kemui-sama, seemed to mildly glare at the black haired woman, “Yes, he awoke earlier and has agreed to join us.”

“Fantastic!” whatever file was in the woman’s hand went flying as she stood up and held her hand out, “Name’s Gakushin Reki, talk to me once you’re settled to get things started around here…”

Giving a nervous glance to the shorter white haired woman Haku returned the desk clerk’s gesture, having his hand immediately taken and nearly shook off, “Haku, Gakushin-san…”

Immediately those black eyes weren’t so lazy, “Oi kid, not so formal, Reki or Taichou, take your pick, but not ‘Gakushin-san’,” she snorted, letting go of his hand and returning to her seat, “Makes me sound like I’m old or something…”

“You’re over forty,” Was Kemui’s flat response to that statement.

Immediately a tan hand was pointing at the shorter white haired woman, “Watch it miss 34…”

Kemui simply gave a shrug, not bothered in the least by her age, as she turned towards one of the back stairs behind Reki’s desk.

The older woman just snickered, grabbing some magazine and getting back to work, “Beat it kid,” Idly she pointed over her shoulder, “Better follow her.”

“Of course, Gak-er, Reki-san,” he made a polite bow then went after his new Master.

He heard over his shoulder a chuckled, “Close enough,” from the woman as he caught up.

Again they proceeded through the building in silence, various stairs and hallways with excellent views later until coming to a door. The woman pulled out a key from the inside of her kimono and opened the lock, casually opening the door and entering.

What Haku had been expecting was a large angry man behind a desk wearing a hat with the symbol for ‘Lightning’ on it. What he found as he stepped through the door and absently closed it behind him… was a little white haired boy reading a book on a couch.

At the sound of the door closing the little white haired and black eyed boy looked up, spotting his mother first earning a bright smile from him, “Ka-sama!!” quickly the book was closed and set down properly as he went to give the woman a hug.

Kemui leaned enough to return the gesture, patting the boy’s feathery white hair, “I said I would not be gone long this time…”

“Mm,” the boy simply nodded into his mother’s kimono, grasping tight one last time until she signaled he should let go. Obediently he did so, allowing the woman to turn him towards their guest.

“This is Haku,” Kemui introduced the young man to her son, “He will be staying with us from now on.”

The way the younger boy’s eyes lit up was adorable, “Really?” at his mother’s polite nod a grin spread on his face as he left his mother’s side to bow slightly to the older boy, “M-my name is Yokan Sutego,” he rose, holding out his hand, “I-it is a pleasure to meet you, sir!”

Surprised and not knowing anything else to do Haku held out his hand and shook the small boy’s, “It is good to meet you as well, Sutego-kun.”

As their hands parted the little boy seemed to blush, excited but returned to his mother’s side. The woman may have been tempered in her demeanor but the look in her eyes as she looked at the little white haired boy could only be considered affectionate. A pale hand rested on the boy’s feathery white hair as she addressed him again, “Go clear out the spare room, I need to speak with Haku a moment.”

Sutego merely gave a firm nod to his mother then the five year old was off to do as he was told.

Kemui watched her son leave momentarily before glancing to Haku, “I hope you don’t mind the accommodations.”

Immediately the boy shook his head, “N-not at all, I did not expect so much,” glancing around he couldn’t help but ask, “Where are we exactly, I thought this was the Raikage’s tower?”

A smirk rose on the older woman’s face as she moved to another room, signaling Haku follow, “It is, but like all buildings in Kumo it has room for apartments,” she waved her hand about, “Originally this was one of the Raikage’s rooms but he wasn’t using it and I needed something bigger than my singular room after returning with my son…” she entered another room, this one smaller with a bed, sparse but Haku felt it was her own after noticing a triangular flak vest hanging off a chair in the corner.

Haku remained at the door as the woman went to retrieve something from the closet. When she stepped out with his former Master’s sword something in him just broke. It was Kubikiribouchou, the decapitating serving knife, the seversword, the great headhunter sword… it was the only thing other than his headband that Momochi Zabuza had kept of his home. Unconsciously Haku’s hand reached out, wanting to touch the blade… so he was pleasantly surprised when the woman presented it to him.

“I am the one that took your former Master’s life and with it this blade, his sword,” she offered it to Haku, waiting patiently for the boy to slowly take it, “I offer this to you as a kindness, a respect to the man you once served, and a reminder,” she waited until the boy was looking her in the eye, knowing his gratitude and she had his attention, “You are a shinobi Haku, I don’t know what the man did to you or how he trained you, but **_I_** want you to remember that. You are not **_just_** a weapon, you are a human being that lives, breathes, exists for more than your mission and your duty.” Her eyes became hard, needing the boy to understand, “You have sworn yourself to me and I intend to hold you to it, but _do **not**_ forget you are human, you have the choice to seek happiness and carve out your own purpose in life.” She placed her hand on his shoulder, looking into his eyes, hoping he understood, “Serve us, be one of Kumo and it will fight for you because you are more than just a weapon, remember that.”

The boy had tears in his eyes that he would not let fall as he nodded firmly, “Yes, Kemui-sama.”

The woman smiled, brushing past him and signaling he follow, “Good, now there are two reasons I gave you that beyond what I just said,” she turned back to him seriously once they were back in the living room, “One is that you use it to protect my son,” her eyes hardened showing how serious she was about that, waiting until Haku nodded before continuing, “And two, there is a girl named Tenkyuu Yorihi in this village,” a light smile found its way onto her lips, “She is… brash, like her father, and stubborn,” grey eyes held Haku’s attention, “She is well on her way to becoming a swordmaster in her own right, I want you to learn to use that blade and help her train as well, understood.”

Haku set Kubikiribouchou on his back as he kneeled before the woman again, “I swore to you already, to be your weapon as needed,” serious brown eyes glanced up at the woman, “But already you have given me far too much kindness that I shall do whatever required of me to help repay it.”

Kemui just nodded, smiling lightly down at the boy, “Very well,” she turned towards the way her son had gone, “Just remember, that is the _only_ gift I will ever give you.”

Haku couldn’t help but smile as he stood. He had awoken with nothing, now he already had a new mission, a new purpose and a new Master that had use for him. – _Forgive me Zabuza-sama, but I will stay around here for a while…_ \- he gripped the handle of the large headhunter sword, both missing the man that had raised him but also feeling grateful.

\-----

Haku - white

Yukionna - Yuki - snow, Onna - woman (a kind of demon)

Kubikiribouchou – Decapitating Carving Knife (Alt: headhunter blade)


	8. Matchmaking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six months in ANBU is over, time to get on to the next thing... Arc 5/Part 1 Done!

**_Clang!_ **

Blades crossed, a large blade deflected, the smaller girl shifted the blade in her right hand, moving along the large cutting knife, sliding up into the wielder’s guard and placing her left hand against her right knuckles elbowed the older boy in the face.

Haku grunted with the hit, turning the large sword slightly so the blade itself was horizontal, dragging the guard back by the long handle, intent on hitting the smaller girl.

She merely parried it with the blunt edge of the katana in her right hand, flipping the great sword out of its wielder’s hands and forcing the boy back.

A sleeved left hand came up to the boy’s defense, firing hidden senbon as he cleared some distance between himself and the smaller blind girl. She moved back, dodging his feint swiftly but still lost him as with one hand he formed an ice mirror and slid into it.

Yorihi growled, drawing her reversed blade katana in both hands and channeling enough chakra to give the blade extra weight, then quickly turned on her heel and smashed the forming mirror. It too was only a feint, as the real one appeared on the other side of Kubikiribouchou, where Haku grabbed the handle, crouching in a roll out of his mirror and using the momentum to swing the blade up in a massive head cleaving sweep just as the girl found and smashed his mirror.

The match ended with him crouched, massive blade at her neck and her blunt sword at least a foot form being anywhere near him.

Of course the girl growled, rolling her shoulder to throw off the large blade and glared at the older boy with her tattooed brows, pouting all the while, “Those mirrors are so cheap…”

Haku just gave a beautiful smirk, setting the heavy blade on his shoulder, “You have your barrier and chakra blades, I have my senbon and mirrors,” his voice was so soft and patient for a boy his size, it annoyed Yorihi to no end. In the three months since the older boy had begun serving Kumo’s Last Assassin he’d had a bit of a growth spurt, now at least a foot and a half over the blind girl and finally filling out some manner of masculine figure. He was still entirely too pretty in Yorihi’s opinion, if he didn’t get an Adam’s apple and a deeper voice in the next year she was going to stop calling him a man. Haku had only _demurely_ chuckled at her insinuation.

The girl just snorted, much like her cat, as she sheathed her reverse blade katana in the lower sheath on her right side. Despite Yorihi’s continued probationary experience and missions with ANBU and the bloodhunt she managed to spar with Haku and his ridiculously large blade at least once a day she was in the village. It had been her Teacher’s suggestion, allowing her a chance to spar with her swords against a real opponent and giving Haku experience he desperately needed to learn to wield the great headhunter sword properly. Most of their spars ended in arguments though Haku felt that was just how the young Raikage’s Daughter communicated with most people as she had a tendency to just snap at anyone. It took him a month to realize she hadn’t been hostile to him particularly, it was just how the people in Kumo were. They bit and picked at one another but underneath it was some strange comradery, he was still trying to figure it out.

So far though the young ice user could say he enjoyed his time in the Village Hidden in the Clouds. Despite the tense aggressiveness of the inhabitants there was a strange honesty to them; they liked you, they mocked you, they disliked you, they punched you, and often times it was hard to tell which was which. His new Master seemed pleasant if quiet, the woman was often gone on some mission for the Raikage and it was through this he understood why she wanted him to look after her son. It seemed previously the white haired boy would spend his time with ‘relatives’ but with all of them now above chuunin rank it was becoming increasingly hard for someone to be ‘in the village’ to look after the young boy, other than the Raikage but he was ‘busy’, so he was often left on his own. So Haku continued to delay his submission for service, taking the time to watch his master’s young son and spar with her wayward former student. In his mind these were the tasks the woman seemed most concerned with, as well as learning how to use Zabuza-sama’s sword, so they were what he focused on. He had to admit, he rather liked the relatively ‘peaceful’ days.

“Oi, pretty boy,” another thing he was getting used to, it seemed in Kumo using one’s actual name was rare as he looked to the pouting plate-covered face of the Raikage’s Daughter, hand on her hip and obviously done for the day, “Stop daydreaming and lets go, I’m hungry!” with that she quickly turned heel, heading back to the village from their training ground.

Haku just smiled, setting Kubikiribouchou on the strap on his back, “Of course, Yorihi-hime~” he could hear the girl growl ahead of him. It was apparently fairly common in the village to refer to the girl in some manner of ‘princess’, much to her constant chagrin. It made sense, she was the Raikage’s Daughter after all, but it was all the more amusing as anyone that called her such _knew_ she wasn’t very fond of such a title but did it anyway. When he’d asked his Master about it the woman had poked him on the forehead with a strange smirk saying ‘affectionate teasing’. He’d been left to rub his head and wonder about the strangeness.

As they walked back he stretched out, flexing his wrapped right arm. He’d tried to adapt in some way to how Kumo was, how its people acted and how they dressed. It was fairly varied outside of uniform but combatively there were certain obvious things he’d noticed. Dark colors, often blacks and greys with odd cream or tan variants thrown in, but most of all was the seemingly uniform lack of sleeves. His Master, in her battle gear, wore a black kimono top, even had a white under shirt, but no sleeves. Yorihi’s dark blue stretchy shirt had no sleeves. That desk clerk had no sleeves. Of course the Raikage, when he and his daughter got in an argument over who-knew-what, threw off the Raikage’s jacket and didn’t even wear a shirt as he and the significantly smaller girl duked it out over something ridiculous. So far Haku had sacrificed _one_ sleeve to the cause of conformity, and even then it was due to needing his right arm freer while wielding the Kubikiribouchou and Yorihi had purposely cut it off. His entire right arm was wrapped though to make up for the strange lack of covering, it felt weird without, and it helped him grip the sword tighter. He adamantly defended his left sleeve though with a deadly passion, he needed somewhere to hide his senbon!

He was lucky his Master hadn’t been aggravated, though he had decided it was time to purchase his own clothing instead of borrowing hers. He had been getting too big for them anyway.

The girl in front of him made another grunt, catching his attention and causing him to smirk lightly as they passed through the village in silence. Kumo was an amusing and dangerous place, he was still getting used to the thin air and higher altitude, but the cold winds and crisp air for some reason made him feel more at home than the waters of the islands he’d spent the last decade of his life on ever did. He’d gotten a briefing about his ‘clan’ and bloodline from the desk clerk when he’d asked about the tests done while he’d been unconscious and considering the name of the clan he was apparently the last of, the Yukionna, he wondered if that had something to do with his comfort in the colder mountains of Kumo then the islands of Wave and Kiri. The demons Yuki-Onna were vengeful snow spirits of women that died in the mountains, killing travelers that got lost in blizzards by freezing them, he wouldn’t have doubted those old stories were of ancestors of his though the ‘demon’ part was probably an exaggeration. This knowledge gave him a kind of peace, combined with his comforting feeling of the mountains, making him feel like his decision to stay here instead of following his late Master was the right decision.

“Oi, Aki, are you open yet?!” the shorter girl in front of him called out as she pushed the tarp aside to enter the noodle stand. Haku had no idea why she insisted on eating here all the time, the girl obviously made enough money to eat where she pleased in the village and there were other places that would likely roll out the red carpet for her thanks to her association with her father, yet whenever they finished a spar she went straight to this Udon stand and even then only ate half the time. He was convinced she enjoyed messing with the chef for some reason.

“Why do you call him that Yorihi-hime?” Haku sat down while the girl was still standing at the corner of the bar, smirking as she seemed to just reach over it and take what she wanted. Brown eyes couldn’t help but roll at her boldness.

The girl just shrugged as she sat down next to him roughly, setting a plate of sweet dumplings between them, “It’s the color of his hair?” was her halfhearted response as she took a bite of her pilfered sweets.

Again Haku just narrowly glared at her, maybe snagging one of the dumplings as he’d noticed the girl had a sweet tooth and was liable to scarf them all down before anyone else even noticed, “How do you even know that?” he’d noticed while sparing with the girl she had unusually high senses, from her various levels of training she’d told him and he’d surmised, giving her several different ways to compensate for her lack of sight. She was an impressive fighter, able to process things like shapes through touch and chakra as well as form a picture in her mind from scent, taste and hearing, though perhaps her most impressive was her ‘claim’ that she could feel colors. He’d tested this out on occasion and as far as he could tell she was telling the truth, but he was a skeptic, Zabuza-sama had taught him to question every scenario, even those given by ‘allies’.

“Baba told me?” the higher tone and raised tattooed brow on her forehead as she devoured another dumpling made her claim seem rather skeptical.

He took a bite of his own shaking his head, he’d admit they were good.

“You’re paying for those,” a scar faced man with long unruly red hair shoved under a white handkerchief and apron glared flat eyes at the blind girl as he came out from the back with a crate of supplies.

Yorihi just seemed to grin with half a dumpling in her mouth and wave at the man as if she were completely innocent.

Haku couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable by the man’s cold glare that his Master’s student seemed completely oblivious too. Thankfully he quickly went back to his work, organizing ingredients and quickly making them something to eat. Every morning the two seemed to ‘argue’ yet every morning the man never seemed to push too far, and Haku was half convinced he wasn’t bothered at all as he seemed to purposely leave out a plate of dumplings as if he expected her to be there and steal them anyway. The people of Kumo were a strange bunch indeed.

Speaking of which…

“Ugh!!” two bodies entered the shop and unceremoniously dropped on either side of Haku and Yorihi, a pink and brown one next to the blind girl and a green and blonde one on the ice user’s opposite side.

“Xiao,” was all the greeting Yorihi gave between her slurping of her first helping of thick udon noodles.

Some manner of rumbling growl was the only response from the dusky pinkette huddled in a ball next to the younger girl.

“Good morning Oku-kun,” at least Haku had the decency to be polite to the younger boy that smiled next to him. The young man’s badger detaching itself from the blonde’s shoulder and taking up another seat on the bar.

The pale boy gave his normal smile under his ridiculous plated hat, “Good morning to you too Haku-senpai!”

The ice user could only smile back before turning back to his own food. He had absolutely no idea why the boy called him ‘senpai’, when he’d first met the two genin they’d barely noticed or acknowledged his presence. The dark skinned dusky pink haired girl was loud and feisty, seeming to know _exactly_ how best to aggravate his sparring partner while the pale blonde boy was cheery and openly accepting of everything, which was the complete opposite of his pet badger that just growled at anything that moved. He’d learned from Yorihi the two were about a year and a half older than her making them his juniors by only a few months to a year at most. He seemed to be in the same age bracket as the _slightly_ older genin pair under the Raikage’s brother and younger than the girl’s favorite cousin who’d just made chuunin, all three of which were liable to join them in their sparing as they all used some manner of sword and relished the excuse to try and ‘beat’ the Raikage’s Daughter.

Often enough when they’d finished their early morning sparring and were eating breakfast at this noodle stand the pair under the Nibi Jinchuuriki showed up, either finishing their own morning routine or just getting up and heading out. It had taken Haku a while to realize the red eyed girl and his sparring partner were ‘friends’ as the two argued more than anything. He’d almost gotten into a fight himself with the girl only to realize later she had been aggressive towards _him_ because _she_ had thought _he_ was a threat to _her_ friend. Oku, the level headed one amongst them, had chuckled and explained such to him. Haku wasn’t a complete idiot, he had learned of the recent tragedy the blind girl had faced and what she’d gone through since, likely better than her close friends as he _was_ captured by the girl during one of her ‘hunts’, so the dusky pinkette’s hostility and protectiveness of her friend had been understandable.

Now though they were all on _relatively_ good terms… as ‘good’ as terms got in Kumo from what he’d observed.

After the good long couple of minutes of the dusky pinkette keeping her head on the counter and growling, long enough for her partner to order his own bowl of noodles along with something for her and start eating while the other two continued to eat in relative silence, Xiao finally raised her head from the countertop and glared at the other three to her left. A plate of something fried with a sour sauce was placed in front of her at just the right moment for her to slam a fist on the counter and cause it to jump, this did absolutely nothing to deter the others from eating. Red eyes glared, “Are neither of you even going to ask?”

“Nope,” Yorihi popped her lips on the ‘p’ sound in the word before shoving more noodles in her mouth. Haku was still rather amazed at the young girl’s appetite, she must have had at least seven bowls stacked next to her.

The older feminine looking boy leaned further on the counter to glance at the dusky pinkette, give her a quaint smile and seemingly apologize for his sparring partner, “Not to sound rude or anything Xiao-chan,” the dark skinned girl growled, rolling her eyes at the pretty boy as he continued, “But usually you are quite… _disagreeable_ if approached with a subject directly…”

“Speak normally pretty-boy or I swear…!!” for some reason she brandished a pair of chopsticks like a knife, leaning close to Yorihi as if to stab the ice user with them.

Haku determined it was best to lean _away_ from the angry mountain girl.

A pale hand landed on the ice user’s shoulder, stabilizing him and preventing him from any means of escape. Haku managed to glance into the smiling face of Oku who’d just swallowed his bit of noodles before speaking, “What he means to say Xiao-chan is ‘what’s the matter’, right senpai?” the happy clap on the older boy’s shoulder sounded like a death knell.

Haku was not amused and narrowed his brown eyes _slightly_ at the younger boy.

“Shut up Oku,” was Xiao’s only tangible response as she growled again, sat down harshly and glared at her fried food, picking it up with her weaponized chopsticks and grumbling as she ate.

“Ahh,” as if to completely ignore all that happened, Yorihi set down her eight bowl of udon noodles, wiped her face with a napkin and set her chopsticks down before turning to her friend and stating plainly, “What’s wrong Xiao?”

Red eyes glared as her response as the older girl bit into her food, it was apparently chicken fried in something spicy. It was another long agonizing minute as the girl chewed, finally swallowed and sat pouting in front of her before _finally_ saying what was bugging her, “We got picked to be the representatives for the Chuunin exams this time.”

It was deathly silent.

Haku, being the ‘new’ guy despite his knowledge of what happened and various things these two other genin probably didn’t know about, wasn’t sure how to respond to that. From what he knew being picked to go to the Chuunin exams was a rare and prestigious opportunity in Kumo, it meant the genin in question were exceptional, even by Kumo standards, and were trusted to not only win but _crush_ the competition. Obtaining Chuunin status was easily plausible outside the exams as otherwise would be wholly impractical, but many tried to hold off on promotion to get the chance. In Kumo, as they rarely sent more than one team per exam, this was a rare opportunity to show what the Village Hidden in the Clouds could do, with _just_ genin.

So why the anger and hesitance? It bothered Haku and part of his mind _desperately_ wanted to ask, but he knew it wasn’t his place…

“Good for you,” were the flat words that left the blind girl’s mouth as she just went back to eating.

Four sets of eyes were on her, including the badger.

“What?!” “That’s it?!” “Um… Yorihi-hime…?” were the highly confused responses.

Yorihi continued eating her noodles.

Hand met face as Xiao rubbed her eyes, “Goddamnit Princess,” her voice was lower than previously but not any less harsh, “You were the one that was supposed to be going,” a dark fist hit the counter shaking plates, “If that dumbass partner of yours hadn’t… argh!!” it was obviously hard for the young medic-aspirant to voice her meaning and curb her desire to hit something as both her hands were up and flexing, one move away from slamming on the counter or punching what was in front of her.

“Xiao-chan!” oddly enough it was Oku that yelled at her, ironically calming the red eyed girl down enough to set her fists down without causing any damage.

Haku noticed Yorihi hadn’t so much as reacted to either action.

The older girl was biting her lip, hands still flexing, “You know what I meant,” her fists finally settled in front of her as the red eyed girl firmly looked at the blind one next to her, “You should be coming with us, not stuck doing whatever probationary work your dad has you stuck on…”

Yorihi took a sip of her tea, very deliberately Haku noticed, before she set it down and seemed to stare forward, almost like she was looking at the scarred chef, “Perhaps I will…”

There was a huff from the red haired chef.

This response caused the dusky pinkette to perk up, staring at her friend, “You will?”

The blind girl gave a noncommittal shrug, “From what I know the last Chuunin exams was in Suna, that Mei-chan and her team won…” idly a pale finger was tapping the rim of her tea cup as if an internal debate was going on behind the girl’s headband, “Meaning this one will be in Konoha, which _normally_ we don’t participate in because… heh,” she made this haughty shrug ending with a prominent smirk.

Red eyes rolled and the silly blonde chuckled, Haku felt like he was missing some inside joke.

The smirk left the younger girl’s lips as she continued what she was saying, “… so there has to be some reason you guys are going there this time…” she hadn’t heard anything from any of her family about this. Then again she’d been wrapped up in her ANBU work this whole time, the only person she saw regularly was Haku and Sutego before she went to her job. – _Something must be going on…_ \- what she’d said wasn’t false, Kumo generally avoided going to the Chuunin Exams when held in Konoha because generally it ended in a bloodbath, either way, but it had been some time since they’d ‘officially’ been in conflict with the southern village, so maybe her Father was just showing off?

Next to her Xiao gave a noncommittal shrug, “From what sensei said its cause there’s a backup of able-bodied genin, _SOMEONE_ is going to this Chuunin Exams,” idly she grabbed a piece of her spicy fried chicken and ate it, “Just… figured… she asked us… for a reason…”

Oku leaned over the counter smiling at the younger girl, “What she means to say is sensei thought we had the best chance of…” he scratched under his silly plated hat trying to find the right work, “… not-getting-killed?” it was actually funny how his voice went higher at the end, obviously that wasn’t it.

“Ugh,” red eyes rolled as the older girl scowled, continuing to eat her food.

Haku actually chuckled, “That says something doesn’t it, Oku-kun?”

The blonde boy only grinned unsure.

Yorihi was quiet, head slightly down as if staring at the empty bowl in front of her as the chopsticks in her hand tapped the edge.

A dusky pink brow rose as Xiao nudged the quiet girl with her elbow, saying in a serious voice as her red eyes stared at the girl’s plate covered face, “You should come with us.” It almost sounded like a command but there was something in the older girl’s eyes that made Haku believe it was a desperate plea between those closer than friends.

Everything was still and silent for what seemed to be a long time, all of them waiting with bated breath just to hear the younger girl’s answer.

With a slow exhale the blind girl seemed to finally give the barest of nods.

Each of them responded differently. Oku released a deep relieved sigh, Haku let go of a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, and Xiao glomped Yorihi, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” the older girl breathed into the younger ones neck, causing the pale girl to turn distinctly red from the sudden contact and its intimate nature.

Before Yorihi could so much as wiggle or comment Xiao raised her head, pulling the shorter girl tightly against her own modest chest, and gave a wide superior grin to Haku for some reason, “Sorry Pretty Boy, would have asked you, but we only take the **_best!!_** ” there was something overly confident and cocky about the girl’s wide stupid grin.

That didn’t stop Haku from noticing the small tear refusing to fall at the corner of the _slightly_ younger girl’s eye. She really just wanted to have her friend back and wasn’t ‘really’ gloating, if anything she may have been thanking him in a strange way by dragging the younger girl away from her duties long enough for them to do this. The older beautiful boy just smiled demurely, crossing his arms and enjoying the moment of one of the strongest opponents he’d ever seen made red and defenseless by a hug. He understood, and he would not interfere, “I see.”

After a minute of being disoriented, the blind girl shoved the dusky pinkette, “XIAO!!” after a short scuffle ending with the older girl pouting and the younger growling whilst rubbing her neck, Yorihi sat back down, “Since when can you suffocate me with your chest!!”

Before the angry medic-wannabe could even comment…

Oku spoke up, “She’s gained a cup size since last you’ve seen us, Yorihi-hime…”

“SHUT UP OKU!!” and the plate that had previously contained the spicy fried chicken went flying, hitting its intended target dead on as both Yorihi and Haku had leaned back on reflex. Oku was knocked to the floor and Xiao was seething…

“You’re paying for that,” was the offhand comment from the red haired scarred chef in the ensuing silence.

Red eyes just glared at the man and it was obvious the young medic was looking for another fight, so Yorihi, doing her friendly duty, just grabbed her hand and yanked her down into her seat saying flatly, “Don’t even.” Her friends may not know who this man was but she did, and he also made the best noodles in the village, she didn’t want anything to happen to those hands.

The dark skinned girl growled but relented, sitting back down and appearing huffy for a minute before turning to her friend with a cheery smile, “You sure?”

Yorihi snorted, “I’ll have to talk with my superiors along with my Father, but…” she gave a shrug, hiding the fact she really wanted to grin, “Why not? Sounds interesting…”

The other three just gave the young girl varying smiles, knowing that while she wouldn’t show it they definitely would.

\-----

It helped that Yorihi had been asked to participate in the Chuunin exams that morning by her comrades at the noodle stand as that meant the fox masked bastard didn’t have to waste time beating around the bush. He’d thrown a stack of forms down in front of the owl masked girl and spoke quite plainly, “Your probation with us is up, here are the results.”

Without hesitation Yorihi grabbed the sheets and ran her fingers over the print, sometimes it really did help knowing how to read with her fingers as the ANBU cells were certainly kept dark, “Just a summary of my missions and what training you put me through?”

The fox mask tilted as if the man were grinning, “Skip to the end and read the recommendations.”

The girl did as instructed, finding the noted section of the report and her hand stilled. She may have been wearing a mask and in a dark cell but the stillness in her body spoke volumes to what was going through her head. Suddenly the thin lines for eyes on the owl mask rose up to glare at the fox, “You knew,” the girl’s voice nearly snarled behind the wood and steel mask.

Again that strange impression from the man’s stillness that he was grinning like his mask, “I knew this was coming,” effortlessly he tucked his hands behind his back and took a step to the side, “You’ve performed exemplary, as expected, but it would be a waste to _simply_ keep you confined to Company 5,” the fox mask turned to her, “You are more than welcomed to stay here if you so wish, we would enjoy keeping a hunter of your skill, but,” he held up one gloved hand, index finger pointing to the ceiling, “This was more to observe you on your own, and I must say you managed to… _escape_ expectations?” the way he said the word and waved his hand told Yorihi there was more to his meaning then its definition, “I’ve recommended you further your experience elsewhere, with a team if possible, but to continue hunting,” again the hand returned to behind his back as his grinning fox eyes stared at her, “You have a talent for finding excellent things and whisking them away to our side, it would be a shame to keep it hidden here, don’t you agree?”

The girl growled.

A skip seemed to enter the man’s step as he came forward as well as in his voice as he leaned down, “What you need is to find a new hunting ground, Fuku-chan, somewhere _full_ of new prey to hunt down and capture…”

She threw the papers in her hand onto the desk nearby, “That’s why you recommended I participate in the upcoming Chuunin Exams.”

The fox’s head tilted, showing his grin, “it was not **_I_** that recommended such, but for you,” a black gloved hand pointed at her, “it seems like the perfect opportunity. You need a place to hunt, find new prey, what better than a gathering of all villages’ best and brightest?”

A snort from the girl, “You mean a farce to show off…”

His finger reached out, poking her mask in the center of its forehead and pushing her head enough to look straight at his, “A place where new blood flows, a place where a blood hunter would be right at home,” he lowered his hand when he was confident she wouldn’t turn away, “not to mention a chance to improve and test your skills, true most might not be at your level, but whoever said you had to show off everything?”

The girl was silent for a moment, seeming to think as she did earlier before accepting her friend’s proposal.

The fox masked ANBU smiled behind his grinning wood and steel face, “find new prey, help out your comrades, advance your rank and you will find more opportunities…”

“To do what?” her voice was low, soft, not broken but not as lost as he expected.

He leaned down so their masks were level, his tilted slightly to show he was smiling approvingly at her, “Whatever you deem necessary.”

\-----

“I’m going to the Chuunin Exams in Konoha.”

That was the first thing out of Yorihi’s mouth as the doors to her Father’s office closed behind her. There were only two people currently in his office, the large bulky oni of a man himself and the significantly smaller woman with white hair who seemed to be giving him a report as she was still in her battle gear. The large man had been sitting sternly while glaring at the small woman with fire in his eyes and while Yorihi couldn’t see her Teacher’s face the way the woman was firmly leaning over his desk suggested she was probably glaring at him just as hard. Obviously they were having an intense conversation about something before she interrupted.

Yorihi steeled herself, swallowing down any nerves as she gripped her sword and mentally cursed her Grandmother. – _I should have known there was a reason she was grinning like that!!_ \- Reki had simply said her Father was in his office, she hadn’t said he was meeting with anyone and especially not her Teacher.

In the second after her statement both seemed to turn towards her, eyes slightly wide like they’d been caught doing something they shouldn’t have. Yorihi could only raise her brow at that as while amusing wasn’t something she was used to from either of them.

In the next second it was gone and her Father was back to looking as imposing as usual, hands cupped in front of him on his desk with his small black eyes on her seriously while Kemui-sama had turned around and moved slightly to the right, arms crossed and steel-like eyes taking the girl in just as seriously.

That made Yorihi all the more comfortable, that was the look from both of them she was used to. The ANBU girl stepped forward, steeling herself just as readily as them, one hand on her top sword, the other at her side holding a folder as she strode up firmly and face them both, repeating her words, “I said I’m going to the Chuunin Exams in Konoha.”

“We heard you the first time,” for some reason her Father glanced at the small white woman before his beady black eyes returned to his daughter, “Just surprised…” the way he said made it rather obvious they really weren’t.

Kemui shot the large man a glance Yorihi could not decipher before she too turned back to the girl, “What brought on this request, Yorihi-hime?” while the woman’s voice was soft there a strange agitated bite to it, not to mention the subtle poking that she has to ‘ask’ and can’t just ‘demand’ such a thing.

A slight frown wanted to pick at the girl’s lips, feeling annoyed at her lack of decorum and being chided for it, this was somewhat why she had hoped her Father would be alone, “This,” she took the folder from under her arm and handed it to the woman, “It’s my evaluation from Company 5,” the steel plate noting her gaze shifted from the woman who was quickly reading the report to her Father who was glancing her way, “Also I’d been asked by Yugito’s team to join them.”

**_That_** definitely caught both adults’ attention though their reactions were different. Her Father looked almost like he was about to jump up with an enormous smile but kept himself in place as he looked at her Teacher with what Yorihi could only describe as a ‘gloating gaze’. Kemui’s response was a bit more subtle, her eyes hardened slightly and she closed the folder. Yorihi could only conclude their previous _discussion_ had been about her going to the Chuunin Exams.

A smile finally broke on her Father’s face as he turned to the girl, ignoring his ruffled assassin, “I take it you wish to compete Yorihi-chan?”

It almost sounded like someone growled but that didn’t seem right…

Shaking her head the young girl stood firmly, facing her Father, “After discussing the matter with my handler I see reason not to…”

“You don’t have to,” the assassin had her arms crossed again and while her eyes remained hardened there was a strange amount of sincerity in them likely only meant for Yorihi to catch, “If you don’t wish to participate in the Exams for any reason you do not have to, they can find another third.”

Yorihi turned slightly to the woman, appreciating her words but her decision had already been made, “I’m going.”

Kemui just seemed to close her eyes and concede the girl’s decision.

“Good!” oh yes her Father was completely gloating, “Then you know what to expect, what you’ll be doing there, representing the Village, gaining rank-”

The blind girl held up her hand to stop her Father from ranting, “I’m not going there for the competition itself,” tattooed brows lowered to show her seriousness as both adults gained more interest, “I’m going there to scope out any bloodlines we don’t have, any useful techniques, and most importantly,” her head nodded towards the white assassin who seemed to know what she was going to say before she did, “Figuring out a way we can get their Jinchuuriki to join us,” she turned back to her father, ignoring the _slight_ pleased smile rising on the older woman’s lips, “Or any others any of the _other_ villages decide to send.”

Now it seemed it was her Father’s turn to pout, “You’re not actually caring about the ranking or showing up those bastards are you?”

“No, Otou-sama, I’m not,” a smirk reminiscent of the woman standing next to her rose on the girl’s face, “Though there’s no reason I can’t help Xiao-chan and Oku-kun completely demolish the competition while keeping them safe.”

That brought a smile back to her Father’s face and she could have swords Kemui-sama rolled her eyes.

The white woman stepped forward, looking down at the girl sincerely a moment before speaking, “So you wish to go as their backup and your primary mission is to capture anything of value?”

The younger girl could only grin at the woman, understanding what was behind her words even if the white haired woman wouldn’t say it out loud, “Mm,” she gave a firm nod, “I’ll help them, I’ll protect them, but I’m a blood hunter now officially,” her steel plated gaze returned to her Father, “My primary goal is to take any weapons our enemies have so we can either use them or destroy them, right Otou-sama?”

The large man couldn’t help it, he had a wide wicked smirk under his tiny blonde mustache, “I’m expecting a demon container wrapped and ready to go once you get back… with a promotion.”

The girl crossed her fist to her chest and bowed to the man she called Father, “I’ll do my best… Otou-sama.” With her forms given and her declaration made the small girl turned heel and walked proudly out the door.

Kemui finally leaned back and sat on the edge of her lord’s desk, arms crossed and still staring at the door.

The Raikage could only sit back in his chair and grin, “That girl has come so far…”

“It’ll be dangerous, for both her and those two Yugito’s training,” the wolf woman wanted to growl but she pushed it back down her throat.

Beady black eyes looked at the back of the woman’s white head, “She’ll be fine,” he could have sworn she huffed or maybe it was just her shoulders moving, “She’s been through worse and pulled out of it…”

“That’s not what makes this dangerous and you know it,” finally the woman turned to look at him over her shoulder. Those grey eyes were cloudy, worry hidden beneath their fierce bite, “If any of them find out what she is or try to use that to sway her-”

“She’ll be fine,” the man’s booming voice was adamant and sure, “She’s _my_ daughter…” a smirk rose on his face as the assassin remained still, “ ** _Our_** daughter…” oh how he enjoyed the slight widening of her grey eyes as she stared at the man. He couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him, “We’ve trained her well, along with everyone else she calls family, she has too many ties here to care about what any tree hugging bastards have to say.”

Grey eyes glared at the man for the low blow, “Still…”

Again with that winning smirk as the Raikage leaned back in his chair, confident in what was about to unfold, “I know you trust her more than this, stop worrying,” he enjoyed the minute scowl she was giving him, “She’ll come back, proud, with whatever prize she captures and I’ll be glad to give her and her team their new vests, just watch.”

“It’s not so much her I worry about as what will happen when someone inevitably finds out…” Kemui’s eyes returned to the door, wishing to be rid of this unsteady feeling.

“What’s the worst that can happen? She causes a war and blows up a village?” the Raikage chuckled, enjoying the thought that his little daughter would probably do just that if someone told her she couldn’t go back to Kumo.

The white assassin pressed a finger between her eyes, already feeling a headache, “Just because you did that during your own Chuunin exams doesn’t mean she has to follow in your footsteps.”

The great Oni just laughed, holding his arms out as if innocent. They both knew it was likely to happen along with various other disastrous possibilities, but they’d both signed on to this task the second the large blonde man gave the girl her name. They were in it for the long haul now, and all they could do was watch as everything played out.

\-----

As Yorihi left her Father’s office her mind couldn’t help but start to wonder about the possibilities ahead of her. She hadn’t considered it previously but looking at her Teacher had reminded her of how the woman had acted and more importantly what she’d said about those Konoha genin they’d run across in Wave. The older woman had mentioned how much she and her Father wanted the blonde Jinchuuriki on their side and during the short exchange she hadn’t missed the way the boy marveled at her Teacher standing before Zabuza. – _He was obviously scared after she cut off his head, but before… it seemed like admiration…_ \- she picked up the boy’s question to his jounin sensei, he was quite eager to learn about Kumo… it was certainly one way she could go about this.

As she walked along the halls of the tower, her feet taking her towards her room to prepare, her mind started naming off different clans and abilities she knew Konoha possessed that they did not and marking out the ones they already possessed, as far as she knew. – _I wonder what Baba would say if I_ injured _the last Uchiha?_ \- she wasn’t blind, figuratively, and had noticed the way her Grandmother openly hated her bloodline. Part of Yorihi wondered how the woman reacted to the news of the clans’ demise. – _Probably several days’ worth of celebratory drinking and dragging Kemui-sama along…_ \- it was a thought, one she doubted had happened but brought a smirk to her lips nonetheless.

Konoha was one of those dangerous places she had yet to step foot in. she’d heard about it, read about it in other files, kept up on what the shinobi were known to be capable of along with various bloodlines and clans within the place… but she’d yet to have a mission anywhere near there. The Land of Waves and Tea were the closest she’d come to entering the Land of Fire’s boarders… - _Not since I became Tenkyuu Yorihi…_ -

With a growl she shook the thought away. She **_was_** Tenkyuu Yorihi, she’d spent the last ten years as Tenkyuu Yorihi and didn’t plan on changing it anytime soon. She raised her hand, flexing it in front of her, feeling her strength, feeling her power. – _This is who I am… no one else…_ \- idly she paused, gripping her fist tightly as she glanced at her reflection in the glass to her right. This girl, this young woman, this already accomplished Konoichi who wore the insignia of Kumo proudly where her eyes were, **_this_** was who she was… and she’d prove it to the rest of the world.

A smirk rose on the young woman’s face, confident in what was to come, “Here I come Chuunin Exams…”

\-----

The day for Yugito’s team to leave finally arrived and Yorihi was the first to show up on the platform leading out of the village. For a moment the young girl stood, taking in the entire Village Hidden in the Clouds around her, breathing in the cold morning air and already missing the place.

“Glad to see you’re as punctual as usual,” a cheery voice rose behind her, revealing Nii Yugito. The blonde had a cat’s smirk on her face as she casually walked up to the young girl with her hands behind her back, “I never got to thank you for agreeing to Xiao-chan’s request…”

The younger girl snorted, her brows twitching as she rolled her eyes, “You’re the one that set this up aren’t you Nee-chan?”

That cat grin widened as the older woman moved to lean against the chain support, “I don’t know what you mean?”

Yorihi just glared at the woman with her tattooed brows, frowning as she followed the woman but not really upset, “You suggested Xiao-chan ask me, even got Otou-sama to agree to sending a team to Konoha this year,” her brows lowered accusingly as the cat grin never left the blonde’s pale face, “All so you could what? Get a chance to train me?”

“I’d never be so presumptuous as to undermine Aneue like that,” Yugito waved her hand nonchalant as she looked off to one side, smirk still in place if a bit softer, “There’s just been a back up of genin wanting to challenge the famed Raikage’s Daughter or go to the exams with her that I _may_ have mentioned it to the Raikage and _suggested_ he send a team,” that cat-who-ate-the-cannery grin was back, wide enough to close her eyes as she faced the young girl, “It only seemed natural I offer up my team for the task, I was honestly _quite_ shocked when he said I’d have to find a third and let them do it, knowing they’d find someone they trusted and could work with…”

“How convenient,” while Yorihi’s voice was flat and sounded annoyed she was anything but, if anything she felt somewhat grateful for the woman’s machinations.

The platform was silent for a while before Yugito finally let go of her smile and looked off into the distance, “Thank you for agreeing Yorihi-chan,” serious iron black eyes looked at the younger girl, knowing she could see her expression, “It means a lot to them, they’ve missed you a lot…”

Yorihi gripped he top left sword, turning away from the woman’s sincere gaze, “A lot’s happened.”

“That won’t stop them from worrying,” the blonde offered a kind smile, “You guys graduated at the same time, now look at you, you’re an ANBU,  and the three of you are headed off to dangerous enemy territory to participate in the Chuunin Exams,” another catlike smile, “Quite exciting, ne?”

“Tch,” again Yorihi rolled her eyes, turning and walking away some, needing to move more than anything, “I’m just going to protect them…”

“And fulfil your ANBU mission?” the cat had a winning grin as the young girl stopped her pacing, “I was ANBU once too you know,” she crossed her arms chuckling lightly, “You’re father and uncle might not understand by Aneue and I do, you never do quite shake off those ‘standing orders’ from whichever numbered company you’re in,” a wide grin came over the Nibi Jinchuuriki’s face, “I still blow up any bases I pass by that look like they can be a threat to us.”

“You were in ANBU?” those tattooed brows furrowed confused, “I thought you were just part of Company E before?”

The cat woman just kept grinning, “For a while, but actually I spent most of my time in Company 2, same job just more dangerous.”

A tattooed brow rose, “And Kemui-sama?” she knew the woman had a mask but hadn’t thought to actually ask about how she got it.

Yugito tapped a pale finger to her chin, “I don’t know myself, but I’d imagine they’d have had her in 4, even if just for a short while,” again the grin was back banishing the contemplative look, “Long enough for her to get a mask and tell them they’re all doing it wrong, right?”

Yorihi couldn’t help it, she laughed at the comment. Once it died down she looked at the woman, really looked at her and decided to just ask her flat out, “What do you plan to do after this?”

A blonde brow rose, “What do you mean?”

Tattooed brows furrowed seriously as she turned fully to the woman, “You didn’t just conveniently set us up to work together because you care about your students’ feelings,” Yorihi’s face became serious, “I honestly get the feeling you set us up this way for a reason…”

An odd little smirk rose on the woman’s lips, “Could you imagine the kind of team the three of you would make?” black eyes glanced at the younger girl, “An artillery and medical specialist, a demolitions and trap specialist along with a stealth, capture and assassination specialist? All three of you with varying skills, formidable on your own and even deadlier together?” she waved her hand, “Think of what you could accomplish together, a small team of three that could potentially take down villages from the inside out, a real breaker squad, then add in your skills at capture with Xiao’s medical knowledge and you could take in new recruits without much trouble or gain samples quickly enough, your and Oku’s stealth together could take you deep into enemy territory, hell if used properly the three of you could potentially be enough to deter entire wars…”

“That-that’s too much!” Yorihi’s grip tightened further as her brows lowered more, nearly snarling, “I’m here to protect them and scout out potential targets, not join a suicide squad,” involuntarily she grit her teeth, “And I’d… I’d never ask that of them, that’s too much for them…”

“Don’t underestimate them Yorihi,” cold black iron glared at the young girl.

The younger girl couldn’t help but growl, “They’re just genin, Nee-chan…”

“So are you,” Yugito pushed off the chain and walked closer to the girl, firm long strides until she was standing in front of her, looking down at her with the eyes of an experienced killer, “Remember, you _lost_ your partner, you know how hard **_that_** was,” blonde brows furrowed lower, “Imagine how hard it’s been for those two to stick together, keeping each other going despite everything they’ve gone through…”

This time the girl closed her hands into fist and pushed down the growl that rose in her throat, “It’s not the same, they have no idea what I’ve been through…”

A pale hand reached out and pushed the small girl’s chin up until those black iron eyes were level with the plate covering her face, “And you don’t know what they’ve been through,” Yugito’s voice was softer, still hard, still rough, but understanding as a small smile picked at the edge of her lips, “Use this opportunity to get to know your team, I want to see what the three of you can accomplish together…”

Despite herself Yorihi couldn’t remain angry at the woman, all she could do was frown slightly, “You make it sound so easy…”

That cat smile was back as Yugito finally let go of the girl’s chin, only to ruffle her hair much to her annoyance, “Usually the hardest things are…”

“Sensei!! Yorihi-hime!!” it was at that moment Oku came running down one of the long bridges, waving his hand giddily. Xiao not far behind him if at a much calmer pace.

Yugito just grinned, waving her hand as she walked towards her students.

Yorihi just huffed, turning around. She watched as her aunt greeted her students cheerily, how she hugged Oku, dragging him off his feet to the boy’s embarrassed laugh while Xiao slowly made her way towards them with a roll of her red eyes. A comfortable weight settled on the young girl’s shoulders as she felt her partner take his place on her shoulders, “Was wondering when you were going to show up…”

The large almost twin tailed cat snorted at her, his vibrant blue eyes remaining on the woman that contained his mother.

Yorihi rolled her eyes underneath her headband, “You can just go over there you know…”

This time it was his turn to just stare at her pointedly.

The young girl had no response other than crossing her arms and snorting back at him.

“Hey Princess,” Xiao’s boisterous voice called her attention, “You going to stay over there by yourself or are we getting out of here?”

Tattooed brows furrowed momentarily before her whole body fidgeted. It had been months since she’d worked with someone else, let alone a team. – _Can I really do this?_ \- she felt a hesitance permeating her body, an unease at the possibilities that lay ahead. Yes, she had her mission. Yes, she swore she’d protect them, they were some of the first friends she’d ever had… but was she really ready to do it? To work with others again and trust them… like she had Uenkai…

Yugito stood straight, glancing the young girl’s way, something inviting in her black eyes as a light smile passed her face.

Bachiko nudged her quite obviously before disappearing, reappearing a few feet ahead and walking towards the group, looking back at her only long enough to give the impression he was asking if she were a coward.

Yorihi frowned at that, growling at the cat as she took firm steps forward, “Fine, fine!” hands in fists at her sides she breezed past the finicky feline, feeling both he and his ‘mother’ were giving her cheeky winning grins. – _Damn cats…_ \- Xiao was grinning as well, Oku too, likely at the look on her face making the younger girl flush and feel embarrassed. When she finally reached the group all she could do was snap out a, “Let’s go!” before trying to head past them.

Yugito was having none of that, grabbing the girl by hand and pulling her, Xiao, Oku and Lior in his backpack into a hug that even Bachiko joined by jumping on her shoulder, “You guys are going to make me so proud!!”

“Sensei, crushing lungs!!” “Nee-chan!!” “Hehe…”

It seemed their first act as a team was getting a hug of death from their sensei before they could leave. Xiao and Yorihi trying to remove themselves as quickly as possible while Oku knew better than to fight their sensei when she was in a ‘hugging’ mood. The older cat only grinning, happy for this opportunity as she knew the moment she let go it’d be off to the Chuunin Exams.

\-----

Chuunin – go-between, matchmaking (general use in context: Journeyman Ninja)

**Author's Note:**

> As a note, this Arc and its completion signify the end of the first part of this story, Part 1 (i know creative) and by its end we're all set to do canon things proper~ as all the backstory and building this 'different yet same' Hinata is complete! :D
> 
> Hope you've had fun!
> 
> Tell me about it! :D
> 
> Till next *salute-waves* Sayounara, Mina!!  
> -Ikasury


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